The United States v. Daniel Thomas DePew: Fantasy in America

The United States v. Daniel DePew: Fantasy in America

The United States v. Daniel Thomas DePew

Gilberto Valle, aka "The Cannibal Cop"

• Officer Bobby pressures Lambey into finding an accomplice. Lambey contacts DePew.
• Lambey & DePew discuss kidnapping. DePew claims he thought it was all talk (a scene).
• Officer Bobby sets up meeting with DePew and 2nd undercover officer. The three discuss kidnapping.
• Officers talk at length with both DePew & Lambey, who are both trying to get out of the plan.
• Both arrested by FBI. DePew gets 33 years, Lambey gets 30.

• Valle, a 28-year-old NYC police officer, was arrested after police found online postings from him about wanting to kidnap, kill and eat women.
• Trial "hinged on delicate distinction between fantasy and reality" (NY Times, March 13)
• Found guilty in March; faces life in prison.

Laura Kipnis

The United States v. Daniel Thomas DePew

• Laura Kipnis is a cultural critic and former video artist whose work focuses on sexual politics, aesthetics, emotion, acting out, bad behavior, and various other crevices of the American psyche.
• Film professor at Northwestern.
• Author of five books and a number of essays, mostly on sexuality, gender, and culture.

Info: laurakipnis.com

Gilberto Valle, aka "The Cannibal Cop"

• Undercover officer James Rodrigues (Bobby) meets Dean Ashley Lambey on gay sex computer bulletin board CHAOS
• "Subject: Youngsters. Looking for others interested. Hot and need someone." Feb. 1989
• Officer "Bobby" and Lambey complain about not finding photos of young boys. Start talking about making movie.
• Send each other photos and Bobby becomes "pedophilic mentor to Lambey.
• More & more talk begins to focus on making video with kidnapped boy. Talks of how to "dispose of" boy begin.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2013/02/26/nr-feyerick-hostin-cannibal-cop-trial-day-2.cnn.html

Is this fantasy, or a plan? (17)

• When is it a fantasy and when is it reality?
• What is the difference between putting your graphic fantasies on an online forum and writing the script for a horror film?

The Policing of Fantasy

Preface

• Porn has "become an all-purpose whipping person" by the religious right, feminist right, and cultural conservatives for all that is wrong in western culture. (vii)
• "Center stage within all pornography is the question of fantasy and its social meanings." When does fantasizing about something illegal become illegal? (ix)
• Making the simplistic assumption that fantasy = intent puts some of our most basic freedoms at risk. (x)

• "Pornography is a form of cultural expression...(and) it's an essential form of contemporary national culture."
• "Sex is pornography's vehicle" but there are larger issues being played out: repression, fantasy, gender roles, class, power, desire, and rebellion.
• Kipnis' position is that "the differences between pornography and other forms of culture are less meaningful than their similarities." (viii)