Life of David Gale

I watched the movie " The Life of David Gale" starring Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet last week. I thought the movie was very entertaining with good suspense and kept me guessing until the end. I liked this quote by Kevin Spacey about Lacans philosophy

" Lacan’s point is that fantasies have to be unrealistic because the moment, the second – that you get what you seek, you don’t you cant want it any more.In order to continue to exist, desire must have its objects perpetually absent. Its not the “it” that you want, It’s the fantasy of “it” So desire supports crazy fantasie.

This is what pascal means when he says that we are only truly happy when daydreaming about future happiness or why we say the hunt is sweeter than the kill.

Or be careful what you wish for, not because you will get it but because, you are doomed to not to want it once you do. So the lesson of lacan is living by your wants will never make you happy. What it means to be fully human is to strive to live by ideas and ideals and not to measure your life by what you have attained in terms of your desires, but those small moments of integrity, compassion, rationality, even self-sacrifice. Because in the end, the only way we can measure the significance of our own lives is by valuing the lives of others. "