Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Attaching Hollywood To A Surveillant Assemblage: Normalizing Discourses Of Video Surveillance, Randy K. Lippert, Jolina Scalia

Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology Publications

This article examines video surveillance images in Hollywood film. It moves beyond previous accounts of video surveillance in relation to film by theoretically situating the use of these surveillance images in a broader “surveillant assemblage”. To this end, scenes from a sample of thirty-five (35) films of several genres are examined to discern dominant discourses and how they lend themselves to normalization of video surveillance. Four discourses are discovered and elaborated by providing examples from Hollywood films. While the films provide video surveillance with a positive associative association it is not without nuance and limitations. Thus, it is found that …