Attaching Hollywood to a Surveillant Assemblage: Normalizing Discourses of Video Surveillance

Abstract

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 some forms of resistance to video surveillance are shown while its deterrent effect is not. It is ultimately argued that Hollywood film is becoming attached to a video surveillant assemblage discursively through these normalizing discourses as well as structurally to the extent actual video surveillance technology to produce the images is used.

Exploring Consciousness: The Online Community’s Understanding of Mobile Technology Surveillance

“…In addition to Orwell's powerful book, commenters make references to films and television shows where surveillance technologies are depicted (see also Lippert and Scalia 2015). For example, one commenter uses the television series Black Mirror to speak to its ingenious idea of coupling "drone technology AND [government] surveillance."…”