:: Volume 2, Issue 8 (11-2013) ::
کیمیای هنر 2013, 2(8): 45-58 Back to browse issues page
Heterotopian Cinema according to Foucault’s Discourse on Power
Sahereh Gholami *
Abstract:   (9749 Views)
Michel Foucault’s discourse analysis focuses on power relationships in society as expressed through language and practices. Heterotopia is also a concept in human geography elaborated by him to describe places and spaces that function in non-hegemonic conditions. These are spaces of otherness, which are neither here nor there, that are simultaneously physical and mental. According to him, heterotopias are places which have connections with ordinary spaces and social structures. While introducing heterotopian characteristics and functions, Foucault claims that the places are after all institutions of the power. Parallel to this, Foucault believes that since the globalized web and the formation of different types of heterotpoias, the power is no more restricted to one center only but develops through a rhizomatic web of multiple relations. Now, regarding this approach to places and knowing that Foucault considers cinema as a kind of heterotopia, one can find so many films that, while following the logic of power, visualize utopias suspended between reality and hyper-reality. The common characteristics of these works, is their stylistic and semantic properties. This article would analyze the common Foucauldian elements that can be found in these cinematic works, especially “One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest” and “Fahrenheit 451” to further reach an intertextual reading and provide a philosophical analysis of them.
Keywords: power, heterotopia, heterotopian cinema, disciplinary power
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Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2014/09/24 | Accepted: 2014/09/24


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Volume 2, Issue 8 (11-2013) Back to browse issues page