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
Recommended Citation
Lippert, Randy K. and Scalia, Jolina. (2015). Attaching Hollywood to a Surveillant Assemblage: Normalizing Discourses of Video Surveillance. Media and Communication, 3 (3), 26-38.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/socanthpub/11
Comments
This article was first published in Media and Communication http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/mac.v3i3.286.