When it comes to famous Slovenians it’s fair to say that Melania most likely tops the list, even if not everyone who knows her name and face could say where she was born. After that there’s a considerable gap, but then let’s put the young basketball sensation Luka Dončić in current second place, and then perhaps some way further down Jan Oblak, four-time winner of the Ricardo Zamora Trophy for the best goalkeeper in Spain’s La Liga.
But only one Slovenian has their own adjective, at least four full-length documentaries on their work, and a warm welcome in TV studios and newspapers around the world – the perennial enfant terrible, “rock star philosopher” and man about Ljubljana, Slavoj Žižek.
Related: 70 Quotes for Žižek’s 70th Birthday
Whether familiar or not with the man you’re in for a treat with the following documentary, released in 2005 in the first flush of his wider fame and a good introduction to his personality, history and work. A figure who manages to cross both high and low cultures, having published in the most prestigious journals as well as the catalogue for Abercrombie & Fitch (Back to School 2003 – The Sex Ed Issue NSFW, pdf), he’s comfortable aiming his considerable intellect at anything and everything from Hegel to Kinder Eggs, the crisis of contemporary capitalism to the hermeneutics of toilets, with something to delight and offend everyone in between. So if you enjoy the movie, just search the name on YouTube and follow Slavoj down the rabbit hole. Enjoy it!
