Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 15:02:28 -0500 From: albright-AT-world.std.com (R.H. Albright) Subject: Foucault in _King George_ This is brilliant thinking, Ian! Thanks for sharing it with us! ---Randall Albright >>Waht about 12 Monkeys for "Madness and Civilization"? > >I did think about that, but the scene in _King George_ where having being >subject to all sorts of coercions George strikes out with "but I am the >King of England", to which his assigned physician replies, "No Sir, you are >the patient" swung it for me. This is a stunning scene; one that perfectly >reflects the deeper and broader shift of the 18thC from sovereign to >biopower. Also in _King George_ madness is made to 'confess'; the King >being made, upon the threat of once more being gagged and strapped to his >chair (the denial of the manic mobility of madness itself), to declare >outloud and intelligibly the truth about his own madness. Then, perhaps >the best scene. Have people checked this out? Where King George upon >recognising his own bad behaviour, walks calmly to his chair and *straps >himself in!* Just amazing. This perfectly prepares the ground for our >later sessions on the government of souls; panopticism, the automatic >functioning of power, where "inmates" are caught up in a system of which >"they are themselves the bearers". > > >take care, > >_______________________________________________________ >Ian Robert Douglas, >Visiting Lecturer & Fulbright Scholar, >Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute of International Studies, >Brown University, Box 1831, >World Hunger Program, >130 Hope Street, >Providence, RI 02912 > >tel: 401 863-2420 (direct line) >fax: 401 863-1270 > >"Great is Justice; >Justice is not settled by legislation and laws > it is in the soul .. " - Walt Whitman
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