Title Ideological Analysis and Cinema Fiction Name Shireen Janmohamed
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University of • Bedfordshire Title Ideological Analysis and cinema fiction Name Shireen Janmohamed This is a digitised version of a dissertation submitted to the University of Bedfordshire. It is available to view only. This item is subject to copyright. IDEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND CINEMA FICTIONS by S. JANMOHAMED A thesis submitted for the degree of MA of the University of Bedfordshire Abstract Ideological analyses of cinema fictions usually employ a methodology using the critical Marxist concept of discursive strategies that are used to spuriously account for realities. With the changes to the international strategic power balance and the use of overwhelming fire- power in the pursuance of what is perceived to be the national interest, cinema fictions have begun to reflect this dangerous world. This thesis argues that a purely ideological analysis is inadequate to the task of interpreting contemporary political cinema texts, and it considers the use of Foucauldian concepts of power and power relations as supplementary to ideological analysis. The application to two cinema texts shows that the concepts used are not mutually exclusive, and Foucault’s thought is especially appropriate to these political cinema fictions. This is a novel approach as it has traditionally been thought that Foucault’s theory of discourse was developed as a counter to ideological analysis. But the research conducted here shows that Foucault’s criticism was aimed at the Marxist concept of ideology and as a consequence he suggested that ideology be treated as one element in a broader discourse of power relations. This is the approach that has been successfully adopted here. List of Contents Introduction 1-8 Chapter One 9-40 Michel Foucault: Discourse, power/knowledge and the subject Chapter Two 41-70 The Marxist Theory of Ideology Chapter Three 71-91 Ideological Analysis in Film Theory Chapter Four 92-128 The Film Text: Syriana Chapter Five 129-152 The Film Text: The Battle of Algiers Conclusion 153-157 Appendix 158-164 Bibliography 165-183 Introduction The disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a process that culminated in 1991, brought about a unipolar world in which the only superpower, the United States, no longer feels constrained in using its overwhelming firepower against any country that it perceives as posing a challenge to its power and hegemony. It has also conspicuously used techniques of torture, it is argued here, to assert its power. This use of power has been reflected in Cinema fictions, especially in the genre of political films. Traditionally, however, these narratives have usually been analysed through the symptomatic reading of the text which reveals its ideological grounding.1 The changes that were introduced in film theory post-1968 were explicitly political, analysing film texts from a Marxist perspective.2 Importantly, film theory incorporated concepts gleaned from theoretical analyses which ‘became assimilated by Anglo-American film culture, diffusion rather than 3 ‘application’ in any strict sense … [being] the order of the day’. Despite the often valid criticisms of Marxist theory, some of the concepts incorporated into film theory remain extremely useful. But given the global changes in major power relations, a purely ideological analysis is no longer adequate to analyse film texts which depict the overwhelming use of force, and the violent resistance to it. Michel Foucault’s analysis of power provides a critical methodology that can be used to access the power relations incorporated within the film text, and this is attempted here. 1 For an example, see David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, (McGraw-Hill, 2001), pp.387-391. 2 Robert Stam, Film Theory: An Introduction, (Blackwell Publishers, 2000), p.133. 3 Pam Cook and Mieke Bernink, (eds), The Cinema Book, (London, BFI, 1999), p.332. 1 However, as is apparent from the literature survey, it is generally believed that Michel Foucault is critical of the concept of ideology and, consequently, there is a dearth of literature 4 which incorporates Foucauldian concepts in ideological analyses. However, Foucault’s criticism is directed at the Marxist concept of ideology, and the economic determinism that characterises Marxist theory. Foucault argues that ideology should be viewed as one element in a broader discourse which is historically specific. Further, ideology should be investigated with regard to ‘the system of formation of its objects, its types of encunciation, its concepts, 5 its theoretical choices. It is to treat it as one practice among others’. And the latter may 6 include political and economic discursive practices. This thesis is novel in that it uses both ideological and Foucauldian concepts, especially of power relations, the creation of subjectivity and reversals of power, to analyse two political film texts: Syriana (2005) and The Battle of Algiers (1965). Primarily because this is a novel approach, the political, economic, and cultural elements of each film text, in addition to ideological elements, are discussed at some length to elucidate not just the existence of these factors but their interplay. What emerges is a complex and more nuanced analysis than might have resulted from a purely ideological analysis. The film texts analysed are especially appropriate here because they are concerned with asymmetric power relations within a local and an international context. Both texts depict explicit scenes of torture and the use of overwhelming force by an ‘alien’ power. However, Syriana is more contemporary especially in the context of the Gulf War, the continuing occupation of Iraq, the images of torture from Abu Ghraib, and also the threat to ‘liberate’ 4 John Frow’s analysis is an exception and is discussed below. 5 Michele Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge, trans. A. M. Sheridan Smith, (London, Routledge, 1972), p.186. 6 Ibid. 2 Iran. Foucault is particularly relevant here with his emphasis on how power is inscribed on the body. It is because Marxist concepts of ideology have been incorporated into film theory, and the contemporary criticism of their usefulness, that the thesis critically discusses the Marxist theory of ideology in detail before considering its relevance to film theory. Foucault’s methodologies of archaeology and genealogy, in addition to his concepts of power relations and power/knowledge are discussed in an attempt to elucidate Foucault’s thought, and to provide an alternative view of how ideology might be conceived; it also introduces the factor of power relations that is so dominant in the film texts. The application of these concepts to the film texts has shown that they are not mutually exclusive, and that it is possible to retain a critical concept of ideology and to apply it to a text that is also analysed in terms of power relations. The thesis begins with a discussion of Foucault’s thought and his critical methodologies, followed by the Marxist theory of ideology, and the ideological analysis in film theory. Finally, the two film texts are analysed using a critical concept of ideology and Foucault’s concept of power relations in a broad discourse that includes political, economic and cultural elements. Literature Survey There is a voluminous literature on Foucault, but there does not appear to be a great deal of consensus on the utility of his concepts and his thought. Michèle Barrett’s The Politics of Truth: From Marx to Foucault is extremely useful in that it focuses on the divergence 3 between Foucauldian and Marxist thought.7 It also provides an extended discussion on the varying concepts of ideology in Marxism. However, Barrett is misleading in suggesting that Foucault discounts the concept of ideology altogether in favour of his concept of discourse. She does however, caution against taking Foucault’s critics at face value and notes: Garry Gutting has pointed out that various critiques (including that of Habermas) of Foucault’s supposed relativism are based on passages where ‘Foucault is not speaking in 8 his own name’ but is giving a lengthy exposition of others. It is this confusion in the literature that prompted a close reading of Foucault’s texts such as The Archaeology of Knowledge, Power/Knowledge, The Order of Things, The History of 9 Sexuality and Discipline and Punish. For secondary literature on Foucault, Gary Gutting’s Foucault: A Very Short Introduction and (edited) The Cambridge Companion to Foucault 10 provide a nuanced and well argued analysis of Foucault’s thought. Paul Rabinow’s (edited) 11 The Foucault Reader also provides a useful grounding in Foucault’s thought. Apart from Hubert Dreyfus’s and Paul Rabinow’s Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics which gives a very lucid analysis of Foucault’s thought, a general critical 12 source is David Couzens Hoy (edited) Foucault: A Critical Reader. Supplemented by 7 Michèle Barrett, The Politics of Truth: From Marx to Foucault, (Cambridge, Polity Press, 1991). 8 Ibid., p.144. 9 Michele Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge, trans. A. M. Sheridan Smith, (London, Routledge, 1972); – Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977, (ed) Colin Gordon, (New York & London, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1980); – The Order of Things: an archaeology of the human sciences, trans. C. Perrow, (London & New York, 1974); – The Will to Knowledge: The History of Sexuality: 1, trans. Robert Hurley, (London & New York, Penguin Books 1998); – Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. Alan Sheridan,