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The Normalisation of Surveillance Through the Prism of Film: a Practice-Based Study

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The Normalisation of Surveillance Through the Prism of Film: a Practice-Based Study The Normalisation of Surveillance Through the Prism of Film: A Practice-based Study Jonathan Paul Carr PhD University of York Theatre, Film & Television September 2015 Abstract This practice-based research project uses a study of the key technological, political and social triggers that have brought about the normalisation of surveillance to identify the ways in which cinema has, over the last two decades, reflected the transformation of top/down institutional monitoring into a complex, criss-crossing dynamic that allows citizens to look up and challenge authority figures as well as peer across at each other both off- and online. The research illustrates that the domestication and demystification of monitoring has resulted in citizens playing an active part in the surveillance game while also making them more accepting of an institutional gaze that whistleblowers like NSA contractor Edward Snowden have demonstrated is being used to a greater extent than ever before. At the same time, the vast majority of contemporary films utilise the aesthetics and practices of surveillance primarily for the purpose of spectacle rather than presenting narratives and characters that help to investigate how the new monitoring dynamic is changing the way in which we watch and interact with each other, the media and our popular culture. While recognising the many positive aspects of ‘new’ surveillance this thesis argues that cinema must return to its historical position as a scrutiniser of institutional and domestic-based monitoring and my creative practice is a direct response to the shortcomings of current big screen depictions. The feature screenplay, Function Creep, contemporises the characters and tropes of classic surveillance narratives like Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974) and Sydney Pollack’s Three Days of the Condor (1975) while the short film, Groucho, uses satire and stylistic experimentation to investigate counter surveillance by citizens in a domestic setting and the way in which Internet content can reach and engage a global audience. 2 Table of Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................... 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... 4 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ................................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCING THE THESIS ...................................................................... 6 1.1 Purpose ............................................................................................................................ 8 1.2 Structure .......................................................................................................................... 9 1.3 Outcomes & Impact ....................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 2: SURVEILLANCE & CINEMA .................................................................... 12 2.1 Understanding Surveillance .......................................................................................... 13 2.2 ‘New’ Surveillance ........................................................................................................ 14 2.3 Surveillance on Screen .................................................................................................. 16 2.4 Literature ....................................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS AND PRACTICE-BASED STUDY ................. 25 3.1 Practice-based Research ................................................................................................ 25 3.2 Method ........................................................................................................................... 28 3.3 Limitations ..................................................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 4: CINEMA & ‘NEW’ SURVEILLANCE ....................................................... 41 4.1 The Politics of ‘New’ Surveillance: 9/11 and the Rise of the Citizen Shooter ............. 43 4.2 Popular Culture and Surveillance Played for Laughs ................................................... 54 4.3 Social Impacts of ‘New’ Surveillance: Lateral Suspicion & Social Networking ......... 59 4.4 Concluding the Orthodox Research .............................................................................. 70 CHAPTER 5: PRESENTATION OF THE CREATIVE ELEMENTS .............................. 74 5.1 Feature Screenplay: Function Creep ............................................................................. 77 5.2 Short Screenplay: Groucho ......................................................................................... 170 5.3 Short Film: Groucho (attached as DVD) ..................................................................... 182 CHAPTER 6: REFLECTIVE ESSAYS .............................................................................. 183 6.1 Feature Screenplay: Function Creep. .......................................................................... 183 6.2 Short Screenplay & Short Film: Groucho. .................................................................. 195 6.3 Reflections on the Practice-based Process .................................................................. 204 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................... 211 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 219 FILMOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................... 230 3 Acknowledgments I count myself extremely fortunate to have worked with two such supportive supervisors. David Hickman guided me from the first word of the dissertation to the final edit of my short film, at all times displaying a genuine interest in the subject of my research and a trust in my choices and abilities that gave me huge confidence. Simon van der Borgh provided his expertise and friendship while I developed and wrote the short and feature screenplays. His timely interventions improved both scripts immeasurably and I always left our meetings with a new sense of purpose. I am also in debt to Duncan Petrie, who went far beyond any official remit to review my work and guide me through the world of academia. I would also like to thank the other staff, administrators and colleagues at the Department of Theatre, Film & Television who made my time in York one of the happiest and rewarding periods of my life. While scholarly research is largely a solo pursuit the production of my short film required the help of a large number of collaborators, from the fantastic students who carried out their crewing roles with such skill and professionalism to the talented actors who brought the project to life. Thanks also to my old friend and producer, Chris Marks. I would like to acknowledge my family for supporting me over the course of a PhD that was started in York, continued in Glasgow and completed in Cartagena. Thanks to my dad, Ronnie, for being such an inspirational educator and to my mum, Katie, for turning her home into my temporary office. And a high five to my joyful, inquisitive son, Danny, who arrived in a whirlwind at the midway point and to our daughter, Tina, who will join us in a matter of weeks. Life went on while I was in my academic bubble and this thesis would never have been completed without the constant love, support and strength of my wife Maria. I am forever in her debt. 4 Author's Declaration I declare that this thesis is a presentation of original work and I am the sole author. This work has not previously been presented for an award at this, or any other, University. All sources are acknowledged as References. 5 Chapter 1: Introducing the Thesis It has long been recognised that many citizens across the globe live under the gaze of institutional surveillance and that governments, corporations and the police can track our actions, habits and opinions. From the spectre of George Orwell’s ‘Big Brother’ watching over us to the ubiquitous CCTV camera now peering down at our every move, surveillance practices and technologies have for decades ‘assumed a salient role in critical, cultural, and communication studies’ (Turner, 1998, p.93). This societal fascination is reflected in the huge number of popular cultural representations of surveillance-related themes and voyeuristic protagonists, from the earliest comic books to the latest computer games. In cinema, the aesthetics and practices of surveillance have been used repeatedly to spice up thrillers, dramas, sci-fi films and even comedies. Some have focused on the wider surveillance machine like the big screen adaptations of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four – 1984 (M. Anderson, 1956) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (M. Radford, 1984) – and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985) while others, like Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up (1966), Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974), Michael Haneke’s Caché (2005) and Andrea Arnold’s Red Road (2006) paid closer attention to the psychology of the human beings behind
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