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- In the introduction to The Order of Things, Michel Foucault interrogates
Velasquez’s Las Meninas. The painting has been center of considerable
debate in other venues (the arts, academia, etc.), and as Foucault uses
it, he raises larger questions about the nature of representation and of
the subject. The painting is unusual in that, “we are looking at a
painting in which in turn the painter is looking out at us.” (Michel
Foucault, The Order of Things). Foucault argues that while the painting
shows us a scene in which a portrait is being painted, it is also a
painting that tells us something about how representation and the
subject work. In this way it produces its own kind of knowledge. It is
crucial to Foucault that the painting does not have any completed, or
for that matter closed meaning. Las Meninas has two subjects and two
centers: one constantly shifting between the young princess in the scene
and the king and queen reflected in the mirror, the center is illusive
as it never finally settles on one. Thus we take up positions specified
by the discourse, identify with them, surrender ourselves to its
meaning, and become its subjects. In Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard
cynicism and black humor as well as the interchanging positionality of
Hollywood being examined and represented make the film even more… powerful.
- How does filmic tension open up spaces for examination?
- How is a movie film noir? What makes it film noir?
- How does a film noir add complexity/nuance to the simple notion of auteur?
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Notes
