VLVL 24fps: judging by appearances

[jbor]

Another point to note about this chapter is the way Pynchon emphasises the
cultishness and unacknowledged prejudices of the 24fps crew:

    They particularly believed in the ability of close-ups to reveal
    and devastate. When power corrupts, it keeps a log of its progress,
    written into that most sensitive memory device, the human face. Who
    could withstand the light? (195.5)

This is, of course, baloney, phrenological mumbo-jumbo just like Brock
Vond's belief that "receding foreheads" and "theromorphic ears" are symptoms
of criminality, following on from the work of Cesare Lombroso (272-3). What
these chapters disclose is that 24fps, and the student "revolution" from
which it was spawned, were primarily narcissistic, a cult of youth.

best