Man has always been a conformist.  Man’s principle trait is to conform to whatever power or type of life he’s born into. It’s a social characteristic of man. Man is, perhaps by his very biology, narcissistic and rebellious, enamored of his own identity and so on. But society forces him to conform. He bows his head once and for all before society’s obligations. This is an individual fact that sometimes has repercussions even in a certain social environment, but I don’t think there’ll ever be a society where man is free. We shouldn’t hope for anything. Hope is a horrible thing invented by political parties to keep their members in line.

[Pasolini on Salò]