Sean,
Two films that I have used in the past and that students seem to react to are "Quills" with Geoffrey Rush and Michael Caine, and "Fight Club" with Edward Norton and Brad Pitt.
"Quills" very nicely portrays the transformation from the sovereign power over death to the biopolitical power over life that Foucault discusses in D&P and HS1. The film begins with a great open to the Terror (which both reflects the opening of D&P, and also shows the reversal of forces that sovereign power undergoes with popular revolution), and then plays out the conflict between a religious and a scientific model of governing the lives of the mad (including the ever-resistant Marquis de Sade).
"Fight Club" is a nice way to bring the themes of biopolitics to bear as a critique of contemporary society. In keeping with Foucault's "governmentality" concept, the film portrays the multiple ways in which our lives are governed: therapy groups, consumerism, corporate work environments, etc. The film also gets at the problematic relationship between resistance and freedom that I think animates much of Foucault's later work.
Hope these may be helpful!
Cheers,
Sean
Dr. Sean Patrick Eudaily
Asst. Professor of Politics
Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences
University of Montana - Western
710 South Atlantic Street
Dillon, MT 59725
Tele: (406)683-7103
Email: s_eudaily@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Tetz Hakoda <saddhaa@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Mailing-list <foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 23:55:49 +0900
>Hi Sean,
>
>How about _Gattaca_ by Andrew Nicol with Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and
>Jude Law?
>I believe the film successfully presents a vision of bio-political, or
>eugenic-welfare society of control. Besides the whole plot is well-made
>enough not to let us get bored until the ending comes.
>But a bio-political model there seems closer the model which appears in
>_The Will to Knowledge_ or _"Society must be defended"_ than that of
>_Naissance de la biopolitique_.
>Thus some of your studensts might feel the concept of bio-politics is
>situated nearby Deleuzian notion of "control society."
>
>I'm also curious about listmembers' suggestions for "foucauldian" films.
>
>Best,
>
>Tetz
>--
>Tetz Hakoda
>Ph. D. candidate of Kobe University, Japan
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: "Sean Saraka" <saraka@xxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 08:58:55 -0400
>To: "'Mailing-list'" <foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: [Foucault-L] biopolitics on film
>
>>
>> I'm teaching an upper-year seminar on Foucault and biopolitics (broadly
>> conceived) this coming fall, and I was thinking maybe I'd show a few films.
>> The first and best thing that comes to mind for me is Todd Haynes's "Safe."
>> Do listmembers have other suggestions for films that would resonate with the
>> concept of biopolitics, or on Foucauldian themes more generally?
>>
>> Thanking you in advance...
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Sean
>>
>> ----
>> Sean Saraka, Asssistant Professor
>> Department of Political Science
>> Mount Allison University
>> 144 Main Street
>> Sackville, New Brunswick
>> Canada E4L 1A7
>>
>> Phone (506) 364-2206
>> Fax (506) 364-2625
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Foucault-L mailing list
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Foucault-L mailing list
>---
>[This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]
>
>
________________________________________________________________
Sent via the HotDawg Mail system at hotdawg.umwestern.edu
Two films that I have used in the past and that students seem to react to are "Quills" with Geoffrey Rush and Michael Caine, and "Fight Club" with Edward Norton and Brad Pitt.
"Quills" very nicely portrays the transformation from the sovereign power over death to the biopolitical power over life that Foucault discusses in D&P and HS1. The film begins with a great open to the Terror (which both reflects the opening of D&P, and also shows the reversal of forces that sovereign power undergoes with popular revolution), and then plays out the conflict between a religious and a scientific model of governing the lives of the mad (including the ever-resistant Marquis de Sade).
"Fight Club" is a nice way to bring the themes of biopolitics to bear as a critique of contemporary society. In keeping with Foucault's "governmentality" concept, the film portrays the multiple ways in which our lives are governed: therapy groups, consumerism, corporate work environments, etc. The film also gets at the problematic relationship between resistance and freedom that I think animates much of Foucault's later work.
Hope these may be helpful!
Cheers,
Sean
Dr. Sean Patrick Eudaily
Asst. Professor of Politics
Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences
University of Montana - Western
710 South Atlantic Street
Dillon, MT 59725
Tele: (406)683-7103
Email: s_eudaily@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Tetz Hakoda <saddhaa@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Mailing-list <foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 23:55:49 +0900
>Hi Sean,
>
>How about _Gattaca_ by Andrew Nicol with Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and
>Jude Law?
>I believe the film successfully presents a vision of bio-political, or
>eugenic-welfare society of control. Besides the whole plot is well-made
>enough not to let us get bored until the ending comes.
>But a bio-political model there seems closer the model which appears in
>_The Will to Knowledge_ or _"Society must be defended"_ than that of
>_Naissance de la biopolitique_.
>Thus some of your studensts might feel the concept of bio-politics is
>situated nearby Deleuzian notion of "control society."
>
>I'm also curious about listmembers' suggestions for "foucauldian" films.
>
>Best,
>
>Tetz
>--
>Tetz Hakoda
>Ph. D. candidate of Kobe University, Japan
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: "Sean Saraka" <saraka@xxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 08:58:55 -0400
>To: "'Mailing-list'" <foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: [Foucault-L] biopolitics on film
>
>>
>> I'm teaching an upper-year seminar on Foucault and biopolitics (broadly
>> conceived) this coming fall, and I was thinking maybe I'd show a few films.
>> The first and best thing that comes to mind for me is Todd Haynes's "Safe."
>> Do listmembers have other suggestions for films that would resonate with the
>> concept of biopolitics, or on Foucauldian themes more generally?
>>
>> Thanking you in advance...
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Sean
>>
>> ----
>> Sean Saraka, Asssistant Professor
>> Department of Political Science
>> Mount Allison University
>> 144 Main Street
>> Sackville, New Brunswick
>> Canada E4L 1A7
>>
>> Phone (506) 364-2206
>> Fax (506) 364-2625
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Foucault-L mailing list
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Foucault-L mailing list
>---
>[This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]
>
>
________________________________________________________________
Sent via the HotDawg Mail system at hotdawg.umwestern.edu