|
| Foucault at the Movies
ISBN: 9780231547833
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / Columbia University Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Foucault Michel 1926–1984; Motion pictures -- Philosophy;
Maniglier, a philosophy lecturer at the University of Paris-Nanterre, and Zabunyan, a film studies studies professor at the University of Paris-8, dutifully collect 10 interviews, reviews, and short articles on cinema by French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault, as well as insightful (and lengthier) commentaries from themselves. Because of Foucault's limited engagement with film, his written pieces and interviews vary noticeably in quality and depth, with one piece, about René Féret's 1975 mental institution expose Histoire de Paul, coming in at only a few pages. Another selection, an interview with famed French journal Cahiers du cinéma about representations of the Occupation era and French Resistance on film, overshadows the others with its depth and complexity. Knowledge of Foucault's larger projects, such as his concern with mental health institutions, will help. It's actually an early observation from Maniglier and Zabunyan's introduction, only tangentially related to Foucault, that comes across as the most insightful: they propose that philosophers should engage more fully with film, rather than rely on it as a source of examples for explaining existing philosophical concepts. This work is a bit slight, but, as Foucault would undoubtedly be the first to admit, so was his writing on film. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Michel Foucault, a French historian, philosopher, and social theorist, was one of the most important figures in twentieth-century thought. His work has had enormous influence throughout the humanities and social sciences.
Patrice Maniglier is senior lecturer in the department of philosophy at the University of Paris-Nanterre.
Dork Zabunyan is professor of film studies at the University of Paris-8.
Clare O'Farrell is senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the Queensland University of Technology. Her books include Foucault: Historian or Philosopher? (1989) and Michel Foucault (2005). |
