Capitalism and idealism, a deadly, gelatinous atmosphere: a reading of Kinds of Kindness by Yorgos Lanthimos

Abstract

Here is a reading of the film Kinds of Kindness (Lanthimos, 2024) that investigates certain current links between capitalism and idealism. The film's three (seemingly) independent stories analyze various forms of power. The first chapter draws on the figure of the atmospheric boss, a metaphor for capitalist power that benevolently infiltrates the lives of subjects, attempting to disguise chance in order to present itself as absolutely deterministic and therefore necessary. The second episode addresses the primacy of identity, a legacy of Platonic idealism, which produces an individualism that, in turn, generates death. Hence the concept of necroidealism. Finally, the connection between religion and capitalism is examined. With Benjamin, it is shown how the ideal of purity is actually nourished by practices of consumption and sacrifice. The conclusion raises a critique of the contemporary capitalism-idealism binomial which, like an apparently gentle and anticyclonic atmosphere, produces obedience, stress, and death.