Surveillance and Film [Hardcover]

Surveillance is a common feature of everyday life. But how are we to make sense of or understand what surveillance is, how we should feel about it, and what, if anything, can we do?Surveillance and Filmis an engaging and accessible book that maps out important themes in how popular culture imagines surveillance by examining key feature films that prominently address the subject. Drawing on dozens of examples from around the world, J. Macgregor Wise analyzes films that focus on those who watch (likeRear Window,Peeping Tom,Disturbia,Gigante, andThe Lives of Others), films that focus on those who are watched (likeThe Conversation,Cach?, andEd TV), films that feature surveillance societies (like1984,THX 1138,V for Vendetta,The Handmaid's Tale,The Truman Show, andMinority Report), surveillance procedural films (fromThe Naked City, to Hong Kong'sEye in the Sky, TheInfernal AffairsTrilogy, and theOverheardTrilogy of films), and films that interrogate the aesthetics of the surveillance image itself (likeSliver,Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries),Der Riese, andLook). Wise uses these films to describe key models of understanding surveillance (like Big Brother, Panopticism, or the Control Society) as well as to raise issues of voyeurism, trust, ethics, technology, visibility, identity, privacy, and control that are essential elements of today's culture of surveillance. The text features questions for further discussion as well as lists of additional films that engage these topics.Overall, Wise provides an accessible and engaging introduction to surveillance in film, and each of the five main chapters considers a number of critical questions about surveillance more generally. -Surveillance & SocietyJ. Macgregor Wiseis a Professor of Communication Studies at Arizona State University, USl