MDST*1030 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Michel Foucault, Bruno Latour, Expulsion Of The Acadians
Week 5: Modernity, Spectatorship, Discourse & Power, The Gaze
The Field
-Just as images are both representations and producers of
ideologies of their time, they are also factors in the power
relations between human subjects and between individuals and
institutions.
-When we look at images we look within a field that includes
more than our own gaze & the image
-The field includes medium: film, TV, cell phone, computer,
billboards, newspaper, magazine, blog
-The field also includes the context in which the image is seen:
architectural, cultural, national, institutional etc.
Spectatorship
-The concept of spectatorship allows us to talk about a broader
context in which looking is enacted in an interactive, multimodal
and relational field.
Modernity
-Associated with the enlightenment and rise of the industrial
revolution including; Industrialization, technology, intervention
in nature, rationalism, scientific advancement, democracy and
market economy.
-Not all countries became ‘modern’ nor did all countries
embrace the idea of modernism but there was a European
system of culture that spread out into colonized countries
leading to a belief that European practices were objectively
better (more advanced, sanitary, ethical, and modern
-With modernism came a rejection of tradition and the
embrace of the concept of reason. It was a time of great
upheaval and change but also one of optimism and a belief in
a better, more advanced future.
-Emergence of Urbanization, Social betterment through
Science, Industrial Capitalism, Modern art/Architecture
-Modernism also came the physical exploitation and
subsequent alienation of the labour class.
-Some people felt alone and anonymous in urban centers.
-A social malaise of the alienated individual who felt
dehumanized by industrialized life.
-Breaking of traditions was empowering but also generated
fear and a loss of social connectedness that tradition provided
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Document Summary
Week 5: modernity, spectatorship, discourse & power, the gaze. Just as images are both representations and producers of ideologies of their time, they are also factors in the power relations between human subjects and between individuals and institutions. When we look at images we look within a field that includes more than our own gaze & the image. The field includes medium: film, tv, cell phone, computer, billboards, newspaper, magazine, blog. The field also includes the context in which the image is seen: architectural, cultural, national, institutional etc. The concept of spectatorship allows us to talk about a broader context in which looking is enacted in an interactive, multimodal and relational field. Associated with the enlightenment and rise of the industrial revolution including; industrialization, technology, intervention in nature, rationalism, scientific advancement, democracy and market economy. With modernism came a rejection of tradition and the embrace of the concept of reason.
