Foucault blog task

A Foucaudian reading of the modern day cinema reveals that it is a very Panoptic space. The role of the user of a cinema is extremely similar to Foucault's description of the objectification of the inmate of Bentham's Panopticon. "He is the object of information, never a subject in communication." (Foucault, 1975) relates to the nature of cinema and how it is essentially a monolog for the viewer to withstand and absorb without being able to argue against directly. Due to the layout and design of a cinema the user often 'self regulates' their behaviour. As soon as we walk into a cinema we know there are certain guidelines that we need to follow, you don't talk, you turn your phone off and you try your very best not to leave during the film. There are no signs telling us to do this, we just do it. Bentham states that power should be 'visible but unverifiable' which can be seen in different ways in the cinema. There are ushers outside the screen and sometimes in the screen room, we do not identify personally with these people to us they're just someone in a uniform, a point of authority who we have no personal connection to, although we can see what they look like and hear what they sound like we can never verify there personality, status or force. The projection room offers a more literal version of 'visible but unverifiable'. We know that there should be a person in there and we know there is a window with which they can see everybody in the room through but we never see the person in there, they can see if we're talking or being rowdy but we never see them.

There is an omniscient authority in the cinema that causes the viewer to self regulate their behaviour to a point where we feel uncomfortable to even go to the toilet even though they are provided. The architecture, as well as allowing everyone to see the screen, makes us completely in view from both infront and behind. Both these factors make us completely powerless in communication with the auteur, we can't question what we are being told or discuss with the rest of the audience nor do we feel like we can leave so we become a subject to information regardless of wether or not we personally agree with it