Žižek admits Spider-Man and Swift baffle him as Venice doc lands
Slavoj Žižek has watched the new Spider-Man film and tried Taylor Swift. He gets neither. The Slovenian philosopher made the admission in an interview about his new documentary published by The Hollywood Reporter on 12 September 2026.
The film is The Pervert's Guide to Utopias, directed by Sophie Fiennes. It is the third in their series together, after The Pervert's Guide to Cinema from 2006 and The Pervert's Guide to Ideology from 2012, according to the same interview. La Biennale describes it as the close of a two-decade collaboration between director and philosopher. The new film uses clips from well known movies to ask why audiences seek visions of a perfect world.
In the interview, Žižek said he did not understand the appeal of Spider-Man despite watching the latest entry. He said he had tried to listen to Swift and still did not understand her popularity. His own favourites from the past year were different: The Invite, and The Drama starring Zendaya.
He also spoke about actor Olivia Wilde, saying he finds her sexually attractive. The comment came during a wide-ranging conversation that also touched on politics, he told the outlet.
Žižek discussed what he called Donald Trump's "liberal fascism" and warned about the dangers of cancel culture. He said capitalism is decaying and what is emerging is definitely worse.
The documentary played at the Venice Film Festival. La Biennale di Venezia listed the 133-minute film in its Venice Open – Out of Competition section, a sidebar for titles shown at the festival but outside the main prize race, with a screening at 09:00 on 8 September 2026 at Astra 1, according to La Biennale.
The Hollywood Reporter had named it among the must-see documentaries at Venice. The outlet released an exclusive trailer on 2 September under the headline about why we seek utopias in the movies. The Guardian published its review on 7 September.
What makes this stand out is the method. Žižek has spent two decades using popular films to explain difficult ideas. For fans, this means more clips, more arguments, and more blunt confessions about what he likes and what leaves him cold.
