In Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1970 article “Unpopular cinema” (Il cinema impopolare), now included in “Heretical Empiricism”, he articulates in detail the non-dialectical relationship between cinematic author and cinematic spectator in terms of liberty and liberation. He starts by abruptly suggesting that liberty is ultimately nothing else than “the liberty to choose to die”.

This oppository (oppositorio) conflict which takes place in the “unknowable depth of our soul”.

Boy with Toy Soldiers
c. 1876
Antonio Mancini (Italian, 1852–1930)
Oil on canvas, 29 1/2 x 24 3/4 inches
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Vance N. Jordan Collection, 2004