Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2015

Publication Title

Media and Communication

Volume

3

Issue

3

First Page

26

Keywords

assemblages, discourses, film, normalization, surveillance, video

Last Page

38

Abstract

This article examines video surveillance images in Hollywood film. It moves beyond previous accounts of video surveillance in relation to film by theoretically situating the use of these surveillance images in a broader “surveillant assemblage”. To this end, scenes from a sample of thirty-five (35) films of several genres are examined to discern dominant discourses and how they lend themselves to normalization of video surveillance. Four discourses are discovered and elaborated by providing examples from Hollywood films. While the films provide video surveillance with a positive associative association it is not without nuance and limitations. Thus, it is found that some forms of resistance to video surveillance are shown while its deterrent effect is not. It is ultimately argued that Hollywood film is becoming attached to a video surveillant assemblage discursively through these normalizing discourses as well as structurally to the extent actual video surveillance technology to produce the images is used.

DOI

10.17645/mac.v3i3.286

Comments

This article was first published in Media and Communication http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/mac.v3i3.286.

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