Abstract

GURSKI, Roselene. Juvenile massacres and the passion for the real: the empire of the senses and the discussion about the questions to reach adolescence in the nowadays. Rev. psicol. polít. [online]. 2010, vol.10, n.19, pp. 125-140. ISSN 2175-1390.

The present essay analyzes the so-called juvenile massacres as a symptom of the current social bond, questioning what youngsters give back to society through acts of extreme violence. The starting point for the analysis is the case of Cho Seung-hui, the young man who was responsible for one of the greatest juvenile massacres in the USA, in the year 2007. The essay focuses on the conditions implied in the events of the aforementioned case under the perspective of Psychoanalysis, and also through discussions on the themes of experience and transmission based on the studies of Walter Benjamin, as well as the concept of “the passion for the real” (Zizek, 2004). The hypothesis is that the emptiness of experience, established since the beginning of Modern era, sculpted gradually the symbolic void that builds what we now denominate the passion for the real.

Keywords : Youth; Adolescence; Violence; Experience; Passion for the real.

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