Political contexts of containment and contempt
The terms ‘containment’ and ‘contempt’ resonate at a number of levels in the current context of UK political culture. Here one can cite the loss of political certainty surrounding the UK coalition government and the loss of boundaries that once contained and defined the perimeters of political parties and their respective ideologies. Contempt that has emerged as a response to such shifts and are linked to what the government are doing by way of policy and cuts etc (likened by Andrew Rawnsley and Vince Cable to a ‘Maoist revolution’). Such contempt also relates to concern about the loss of containment regarding a perceived breakdown in a social democratic consensus about the boundaries of the public/private sector, and broader anxieties about a post–ideological politics, where the distinctions between the political parties are often blurred and unclear. Celebrity and ‘spin’ play a key role in communicating policy, something that was particularly evident in the run up to the election. Contempt in this context is linked to the disillusionment about the broken promises of that election, particularly in relation to the Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg, as evidenced in the recent student demonstrations. As Dan Chambers’ films about Boris Johnson and David Cameron illustrate, with the so many Etonians in the Cabinet, the dimensions of the British class have once more come to the fore, and notions of contempt are relevant here too in this context.


Psychoanalytic contexts
Drawing on D. W Winnicott ‘s psychoanalytic theory of ‘Transitional Phenomena’ from his book Playing and Reality (1971), one can begin to think about political culture and its communication systems – particularly in the field of social networking, as facilitating in a positive manner, new complex spaces for play and creativity. Yet, in a more pessimistic vein, one can – following Christopher Lasch’s thesis, in his book the Culture of Narcissism (1979) - argue that new modes of political communication and personality politics
promote a shallow, narcissistic culture, where modes of empowerment are promoted at the expense of more meaningful if challenging forms of object relating and the capacity to tolerate good enough leadership can be seen as an example of this. The psychoanalytic ideas of Melanie Klein might also be useful to explore the anxieties, projections and desires that are utilised through new modes of political communication.

In his book Emotional Governance (2007), Barry Richards argues that the mediatisation of politics has become increasing emotional and that the application of psychoanalytic ideas to the emotionalisation of politics are pertinent. For Richards, Broadcast News bears a particular responsibility to contain and process the anxieties and ambivalences of the public in order to deflect the paranoid anxieties which emerge as a response to the conflicts of late modernity. The media coverage of ‘The war against terror’ can be seen as a key example of what he sees as a ‘therapeutic’ process, where the media may or may not facilitate the working through of vengeful narcissistic fantasies, towards more reparative impulses for understanding and dialogue. There may well be links here with the themes of Gabrielle Rifkind’s work in the field of conflict resolution in the Middle East.

This session will bring together a group analyst, a filmmaker and academic to explore some of these issues from their own perspectives, with a view to finding points of dialogue and shared interest between them.

Suggested Discussion Points/Guiding Questions
· What is the relationship between contempt and containment in UK political culture?
· How might psychoanalytic understandings of containment and contempt be applied to examples from the contemporary political scene?
· What forms of media can best represent the dilemmas of contemporary politics?
· Has politics and its coverage in the news become more overtly ‘emotional’ ?

Our speakers:

Dan Chambers
Since starting Blink with Justine Kershaw, Dan Chambers has Executive Produced ‘Ancients Behaving Badly’, ‘True Stories’, ‘Chinese Food In Minutes’; he’s overseen ‘Miliband of Brothers’ and ‘When Boris Met Dave’ and, along with Justine Kershaw, ‘Extraordinary Animals’, ‘The Lion Cub From Harrods’, and ‘The Great Sperm Race’. Before forming Blink, Dan was Five’s Director of Programmes from 2003 to 2006. From 2001 to 2003, he was Five’s Controller of Factual where he created the RTS award-winning history strand, ‘Revealed’, commissioned World War I in Colour, Pompeii Live, Kings & Queens, and feature shows including Britain’s Worst Driver. As Director of Programmes he was also responsible for Banged Up Abroad, The Gadget Show, Fifth Gear, and The Hotel Inspector. Dan graduated from Oxford University, and began his television career in 1991 as a researcher on current affairs shows including Panorama and Dispatches. He went on to direct films for Channel 4 science strand Equinox.

Website: http://www.blinkfilmsuk.com/Dan_Chambers.html


Dr. Candida Yates

Dr. Candida Yates is a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader in Psychosocial Studies at the University of East London. She is a Director of the AHRC-funded Media and the Inner World Research Network (www.miwnet.org) and the author of Masculine Jealousy and Contemporary Cinema (Palgrave Macmillan), co-author of Culture and the Unconscious (Palgrave Macmillan 2007) and Emotion: New Psychosocial Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). She has published widely on the themes of psychoanalysis, film, gender and political communication in journals such as Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society, Psychoanalytic Studies,, Subjectivity and Journal of Cultural Research and is the Co-Editor for the journal Free Associations and the consulting editor for film and media in the journal Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society. Candida is currently researching the relationship between flirtation, politics and the unconscious and its representation in popular culture. Her forthcoming book is entitled: Media, Political Culture, Emotion and Identity: Playing with the Electorate.

Website: http://www.uel.ac.uk/hss/staff/yates-candida.htm

Gabrielle Rifkind
Gabrielle Rifkind is Oxford Research Group Director of the Human Security in the Middle Eastprogramme. She is a group analyst and specialist in conflict resolution and is convener and founder of the Middle East Policy Initiative Forum (MEPIF). Much of her special contribution is around the role of human motivation and behaviour in resolving conflict. She has initiated and facilitated a number of Track II roundtables and hosts the media 'Liddite' Conversations with ORG. She is also working on developing dialogue between Iran, the US and Israel. She makes regular contributions to press and media and is author, with Scilla Elworthy, ofMaking Terrorism History(Random House, 2005).

Website: http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/people/gabrielle_rifkind

Chair: David Aaronovitch
David Aaronovitch is a writer, broadcaster and commentator on culture, international affairs, politics and the media. His regular column will appear every Thursday in The Times from April 1st. A former television researcher, producer and programme editor, he has previously written for The Independent, The Guardian and The Observer, winning numerous accolades, including Columnist of the Year 2003 and the 2001 Orwell prize for journalism. He has appeared on the satirical TV current affairs programme Have I Got News For You, presented a number of radio and television series and programmes on current affairs and historical topics. His first book, and account of a journey by kayak on the rivers and canals of England, Paddling to Jerusalem, was published in 2000 and won the Madoc Prize for travel writing. In 2009 he published Voodoo Histories, a book on the history and attraction of conspiracy theories. David also writes a blog about conspiracy theories.

Website: http://www.davidaaronovitch.com/html/biography/bio.html