Desmond Morris "Satire is the enemy of tyranny and as such is of immense value to a society"
Many years ago, when I invented satire about the fashion business, I remember clearly a lot of people calling me a complete idiot. They still do today, and I have to admit they had a point. After all you had to have a great deal of courage to explore a Zoo, now decaying but still glittering with its pseudo kings and pseudo queens, a few amazons and lots of little chickens, sharks, foxes, parrots, self-referentials, hustlers and crazed rag-sellers, foot-lickersand super foot-lickers, bribe-takers and all those dancers, talents and pseudo talents, bogus icons and a sea of idiots, heiresses and layabouts, slaves, fakes, botox babes and tons of monstrosities!
Not sure if I’ve got the idea across. What do you think? In short, I’ve seen a lot of animals, good, bad and ugly, and I've photographed a lot of them, but these days the best deal for my wonderful and overwhelming disease, and especially so as not to DIE ... of boredom! (sons of bitches will immediately think the worst here), after many months and with a thread of deep emotion, I thought it would be really interesting to look out again at this fantastic and unique world of Humor Chic with something prestigious and truly glittering. So to stick to the subject of Zoos and this Crazy Society, a topic you all love so much, I thought it best to interview a man who has seen and above all studied animals much more than me, a God of Zoology and one of the greatest cultural figures of our time, certainly one whose studies and treatises have left their mark on most of the twentieth century. I'm talking about the British scientist Desmond Morris, who is a zoologist as well as a famous anthropologist, ethnologist, author and successful writer with a great output of books, a sociologist, communicator and artist, Desmond Morris is to the study of chimpanzees and human beings just what Alfred Hitchcock was to the movies and all filmography. I joked with Desmond Morris about everything, from his latest treatise about Gays to his concise and interesting vision of fashion, from Pippa Middleton and the role of ass in society past and present all the way down to the Bunga Bunga of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, from his life as an artist to the future of mankind...
Enjoy!
- aleXsandro Palombo Dear Desmond, In one of your most recent books, "The Naked Man," you state that "Gay men are usually more inventive and creative than heterosexuals, because they preserve the creativity, imagination and ingenuity of children." Could you explain more clearly how you developed this theory and whether you are still convinced of your thesis? Don’t you think that this thesis might support gays on the one hand but on the other might damage them by accentuating that image made up of feathers, sequins and lots of frivolity? Your theory, however interesting, may well be unclear to many. Allow me to be provocative. In your view are gays born or made? Which theory do you hold?
- Desmond Morris You have to define 'gay man'. There are heterosexuals who enjoy homosexual activities when they are in jail, at sea, or in boys-only boarding schools. Then there are bi-sexuals, like Oscar Wilde, who have families but also enjoy male partners. And then there are men who will have nothing to do with women at all. These are three very different kinds of gay activity, so there is no simple answer to your question about born or made. In terms of evolution, 'born' seems highly unlikely as a reproductive strategy. But if they are 'made' then why so many? The answer to that may rest with the fact that we are a neotenous species and they may be a byproduct of that process. In evolutionary terms, what they lack in reproductive contributions they make up for by increasing our creativity, which is the secret of our success as a species. I don't see why you want to relate creativity to frivolity. Don't confuse gays with transvestites.
- aleXsandro Palombo Among your many books, in addition to the famous 1967 bestseller "The Naked Ape," I have an abiding love for the lesser known "Gestures, Their Origin and Distribution," an excellent handbook to enable us to explore the Jungle of Life, and in my case even the fashion world. But since you’re a famous zoologist, did it never occur to you to study the Zoo of Fashion and the behaviour of its animals? What do you think of fashion? In your opinion, what importance has fashion had in modern society, supposing it has had any? Undressing, dressing, or dressing up: where is mankind headed?
- Desmond Morris Fashion is essentially concerned with novelty. We are a neophilic species and you can't be seriously innovative as a species without enjoying the thrill of the new discoveries. We are excited by a new medical discovery that saves lives, and other such inventions, and we are so tuned to new developments that sometimes we add a little spice by enjoying novelty simply for novelty's sake. So the fashion world (clothing, make-up, pop songs, dances, etc) constantly throws new ideas at us and adopting these makes us feel good because it suits the character of our species. There is nothing new about this. The Willendorf Venus dating from about 23,000 years ago, has an elaborate hairstyle that goes well beyond any practical requirement. In fact this makes hairdressing the oldest known profession in the world.
- aleXsandro Palombo Customs, newspapers and magazines of all kinds do nothing but talk about the look of Kate and Pippa Middleton, and the now famous B-side of Pippa has been tormenting us for months. Have you ever wondered why? Have we entered a new era? And what is it?
- Desmond Morris The best buttocks in the history of our species are to be seen on the steatopygous figurines of the Old Stone Age and the modern day Bushman females. The rounded buttocks are one of the primary sexual signals of our species. No other primate has them.
- aleXsandro Palombo In Italy the government has now fallen, and for years "Bunga Bunga" entertainments and the news of the former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's parties with prostitutes have been splashed across the front pages of the newspapers. What kind of incident was that: cultural, human or animal? From the zoological point of view, what idea did you get of the matter?
- Desmond Morris Dominant males in any culture are liable to indulge in excessive sexual activities. Ramses II of Egypt had many wives and 100 children. His dominance allowed him to spread his genes widely. That was the original, primeval function of the sexual excesses of dominant men. Today it may take a distorted version of this with the sexual excesses gratifying the dominant males without necessarily giving them the large number of offspring that would favour their genetic material. From the great harem of Topkapi to the White House of John Kennedy, top males have often been unusually sexually active. So there is nothing odd about the Bunga Bunga games. And as the old hippies used to say "Make love not war". A good lesson for all politicians. Keep them in bed and out of mischief!
- aleXsandro Palombo Apart from your scientific interests which have made you famous worldwide, you’re also an artist belonging to the Surrealist current. Could you tell us how you got started? What does art do for you?
- Desmond Morris The human brain has two hemispheres, one concerned with analysis and one with imagination. Many people only exercise one hemisphere in their adult activities. I am lucky because I have been able to exercise both.
I started painting a private world of my own when I was at school during World War II. I was disgusted with the violent behaviour of my species and turned inwards with my paintings and turned away to animals in my scientific work.
- aleXsandro Palombo How do you view today's society, as more realistic or surreal? Or something else?
- Desmond Morris Today's society is as imaginative as ever, but we seem to have lost the ability to do our accounts at a national level. I once described politicians as the scum that rises to the top of society and when you read about today's financial turmoil you have to wonder what kind of people are allowed to get to the top.
- aleXsandro Palombo In 1957 you curated an exhibition of paintings by chimpanzees. Pablo Picasso expressed appreciation and bought a painting by a chimpanzee named Congo. Is this a true story? How do you remember it? Could you tell us more?
- Desmond Morris The apes were at the very beginning of aesthetic statements. Very simple but very real. I was studying the origin of art. Picasso, Miro and Dali all understood this. When a journalist asked what Picasso thought about ape art, Picasso bit the man, his way of saying the ape and I are one. (see the book The Biology of Art)
- aleXsandro Palombo Despite living mostly in a democratic society, there is now a growing trend towards censorship and self-censorship. Why is this so?
- Desmond Morris I can't say I have noticed a trend towards censorship. Over my 8 decades there has been a gradual relaxing of censorship. When I was young the movies were not allowed to show a married couple sleeping together in the same bed. They had to have twin beds. In a recent movie a woman was shown in close-up cutting off her clitoris. Hardly a trend towards censorship - at least in the West.
- aleXsandro Palombo What is your attitude towards satire and how important is illustrated criticism?
- Desmond Morris Satire is the enemy of tyranny and as such is of immense value to a society.
- aleXsandro Palombo In your opinion, should art always be free? What does Freedom mean to you?
- Desmond Morris Freedom is a desert - you can go in any direction you like but there are no sign-posts. Or, to use another analogy, as Ginsberg said: Without its banks, where would a river be?" But the true joy of freedom is in being able to choose your own restrictions rather than have someone else's imposed upon you.
- aleXsandro Palombo How do you see the future of humanity, if there is to be one?
- Desmond Morris When I wrote THE NAKED APE there were 3000 million humans alive. Today there are 7000 million. If this increase continues we will suffer a major catastrophe, probably a pan-epidemic, and our species will go into a massive decline. But we are resilient and enough people will survive to start up a new era of human existence. We are so inventive that we will rise again and once more become the dominant species.
aleXsandro Palombo
