W poszukiwaniu indywidualnego ciala: fotografia, detektywi i poczatki kina

• Authors: Tom Gunning

Title variants

EN

TRACING THE INDIVIDUAL BODY: PHOTOGRAPHY, DETECTIVES, AND EARLY CINEMA

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The author discusses the transformations of modernity, focusing initially on matters associated with movement and mobility and the production and distribution of goods. He notes that in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, cinema – the first entertainment industry on such a massive scale – is be-coming one of the factors intensifying these changes. However one must not forget that the place and status of the moving image in the new logic of circulation were preceded by the dissemination of still photographs. The author analyzes the ontological properties of photography and shows that it is thanks to them that it could contribute to such a profound transformation of identity and body image in modern experience. He notes that both still and moving images are characterized by a fundamental contradiction – at the same time they strengthen the sense of fragmentation and speed and also the need of control, stability and predictability. These phenomena manifest themselves in a particularly vivid way within criminologists’ practice and detective and crime literature. In his exploration of those areas the author demonstrates that photography is one of the major tools of power used for classifying, tracking, analyzing, discipline and supervision of the individual body.

Keywords

EN

early cinema; photography; body

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Sztuki PAN
• Journal: Kwartalnik Filmowy
• Year: 2011
• Issue: 75-76
• Pages: 5–28

Contributors

author

Tom Gunning