Interpassivity

Interpassivity VHS fuzzy situation
in·ter·pass·iv·i·tynoun

The delegation or outsourcing of enjoyment, consumption, action, or (inter)activity through passivity and inaction

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A film like Wall-E exemplifies what Robert Pfaller has called ‘interpassivity’: the film performs our anti-capitalism for us, allowing us to continue to consume with impunity.

Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?

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Interpassivity is a widespread, and yet mostly unacknowledged, form of cultural behaviour. Rather than letting others (other people, animals, machines, etc.) work in your place, interpassive behaviour entails letting others consume in your place.

Robert Pfaller, Interpassivity: The Aesthetics of Delegated Enjoyment

New concepts are rare in social thinking, and interpassivity is arguably the only true concept that emerged in the last two decades. The idea that others can not only act for us but that they can also be passive for us, that we can enjoy, believe, laugh and cry through others, provides the key to understand the paradoxes of our cynical-hedonist era.

Slavoj Žižek

Geographical Interest

Country-level searches for “Interpassivity” over the past 5 years via GoogleTrends data
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