WHAT IS DISCREET ABOUT MACA DISKRECIJA? – A LACANIAN AND KANTIAN ANALYSIS OF MEDIA REPRESENTATION

This paper analyzes the media construction of the figure of Maca Diskrecija through the lenses of Lacanian psychoanalysis and Kantian moral philosophy. Grounded in Lacan’s theory of the registers of the Real, the Imaginary, and the Symbolic, as well as the concepts of the Gaze and the objet petit a, the study examines the ways in which media discourse produces the subject as an object of desire and spectacle. The normative framework of the analysis is provided by Kant’s formulation of the Categorical Imperative, specifically the principle that humanity must always be treated as an end in itself and never merely as a means. By incorporating contemporary Kantian interpretations (Korsgaard and Wood) and Lacan’s intervention in the essay "Kant with Sade," the paper explores the boundaries between representation and instrumentalization within the contemporary media landscape. The analysis demonstrates that the discursive production of "shock" functions as a mechanism for stabilizing the symbolic order, while the universalization of "public interest" may mask the ethical problematic of market logic. Ovaj rad analizira medijsku konstrukciju figure Mace Diskrecije iz perspektive lakanovske psihoanalize i Kantove moralne filozofije. Polazeći od Lakanove teorije registara Realnog, Imaginarnog i Simboličkog, kao i koncepta pogleda i objekta malo a, rad ispituje način na koji medijski diskurs proizvodi subjekat kao objekat želje i spektakla. Normativni okvir analize čini Kantova formulacija kategoričkog imperativa, posebno princip da se čovečanstvo mora tretirati kao cilj po sebi, a nikada samo kao sredstvo. Uključivanjem savremenih kantovskih interpretacija (Korsgaard i Wood) i Lakanove intervencije u eseju „Kant sa Sadeom“, rad razmatra granice između reprezentacije i instrumentalizacije u savremenom medijskom prostoru. Analiza pokazuje da diskurzivna produkcija „šoka“ funkcioniše kao mehanizam stabilizacije simboličkog poretka, dok univerzalizacija „javnog interesa“ može prikrivati etičku problematičnost tržišne logike. This paper provides a new theoretical perspective on reality TV subjects using Lacanian topology and Kantian categorical imperative.