![]() Today, the power relations are again typically interpreted as top-down but with a Big-Brother-esque tyrannical despot exerting power onto his popcorn-chewing sheeple. Historically, the relations are seen as top-down – power is exerted downward from the king onto his subjects. Power relations are the ways in which power is exerted between individuals and/or groups of people. To describe how movies engage in power relations with their audiences and society at large, we can turn to Foucault’s analysis. Rather, we must see movies within the complex functioning of society as political tools via mass media. Similarly, we must rid ourselves of the illusion that movies, especially blockbusters, are above all isolated forms of entertainment. Also, please note that the AT&T skyscraper in Nashville is locally called “The Batman Building.” In Discipline and Punish, Foucault asks that “we must first rid ourselves of the illusion that penality is above all (if not exclusively) a means of reducing crime” in favor of analyzing penality in its complex “field of operation” 2 as a political tool. (Batman’s owner) was recently divested from AT&T, “AT&T shareholders to own approximately 71%” 1 of the de jure separate company – showing that the divestment is not a separation from its mother company. ![]() The Batman franchise’s on-screen growth in revenue, from Adam West’s gray-tight-sporting camp to Christopher Nolan’s billionaire macabre, parallels the growth of AT&T as a media conglomerate (the current owner of Turner Broadcasting System, CNN, Verizon, etc., etc., etc.). The movie is fundamentally a project of appeasement for the audience’s political desires and repressive desublimation for the audience’s more animalistic desires – in support of the standing power systems. Foucault’s genealogy in Discipline and Punish can be used to elucidate the political aspect of the film’s outcome for audience and producers and Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals illuminates the more psychological outcomes between audience and producers. The intricate power relations of the film, as a part of mass media, are directly related to those in the spectacle of the scaffold of modern Europe. ![]() The Batman (2022) fulfills complex, necessary roles in society.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |