Editing Kitsch (section)

===Kitsch in Milan Kundera's ''The Unbearable Lightness of Being''===

The concept of kitsch is a central motif in [[Milan Kundera|Milan Kundera's]] 1984 novel ''[[The Unbearable Lightness of Being]]''. Towards the end of the novel, the book's narrator posits that the act of defecation (and specifically, the shame that surrounds it) poses a metaphysical challenge to the theory of divine creation: "Either/or: either shit is acceptable (in which case don't lock yourself in the bathroom!) or we are created in an unacceptable manner".<ref>Kundera, Milan (1984). ''The Unbearable Lightness of Being''. Harper Perennial. p. 248</ref> Thus, in order for us to continue to believe in the essential propriety and rightness of the universe (what the narrator calls "the categorical agreement with being"), we live in a world "in which shit is denied and everyone acts as though it did not exist". For Kundera's narrator, this is the definition of kitsch: an "aesthetic ideal" which "excludes everything from its purview which is essentially unacceptable in human existence".

The novel goes on to relate this definition of kitsch to politics, and specifically—given the novel's setting in [[Prague]] around the time of the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|1968 invasion by the Soviet Union]]—to [[communism]] and [[totalitarianism]]. He gives the example of the Communist [[May Day]] ceremony, and of the sight of children running on the grass and the feeling this is supposed to provoke. This emphasis on feeling is fundamental to how kitsch operates:

<blockquote>Kitsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession. The first tear says: How nice to see children running on the grass! The second tear says: How nice to be moved, together with all mankind, by children running on the grass! It is the second tear that makes kitsch kitsch.<ref name="auto1">Kundera, Milan (1984). ''The Unbearable Lightness of Being''. Harper Perennial. p. 251</ref></blockquote>

According to the narrator, kitsch is "the aesthetic ideal of all politicians and all political parties and movements"; however, where a society is dominated by a single political movement, the result is "totalitarian kitsch":

<blockquote>When I say "totalitarian," what I mean is that everything that infringes on kitsch must be banished for life: every display of individualism (because a deviation from the collective is a spit in the eye of the smiling brotherhood); every doubt (because anyone who starts doubting details will end by doubting life itself); all irony (because in the realm of kitsch everything must be taken quite seriously).<ref name="auto1"/></blockquote>

Kundera's concept of "totalitarian kitsch" has since been invoked in the study of the art and culture of regimes such as [[Stalinism|Stalin's Soviet Union]], [[Nazi Germany]], [[Italian Fascism|Fascist Italy]] and Iraq under [[Saddam Hussein]].<ref>Makiya, Kanan (2011). Review: What Is Totalitarian Art? Cultural Kitsch From Stalin to Saddam. ''Foreign Affairs''. '''90''' (3): 142–148</ref> Kundera's narrator ends up condemning kitsch for its "true function" as an ideological tool under such regimes, calling it "a folding screen set up to curtain off death".<ref>Kundera, Milan (1984). ''The Unbearable Lightness of Being''. Harper Perennial. p. 253</ref>