SPT 2013
ISEG, Technical University of Lisbon
The technological foundations of Law:
The biodigital images of sovereign power
Marcus Vinicius A. B. De Matos
mdemat01@mail.bbk.ac.uk
BBK College (UOL)
CAPES Foundation
Introduction
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Law and State of Exception
Theory of Law and Images
Concepts < Images
Role of Images  Rule of Images
Problems, Hypothesis
Work in progress
Theoretical Framework
• Sociology:
– Technique, Propaganda, Politics (Jaques Ellul)
– Technology and De-symbolization (William H.
Vanderburg)
– Technology and moral (Richard Stivers)
Theoretical Framework
• Art, Media and Cultural Studies:
– Pictorial Turn, Biodigital Pictures, Visuality (W. J. T.
Mitchell; Jacques Rancière; Nicolas Mirzoeff)
– War, Cinema, Surveillance (Paul Virilio; Mauricio
Lissovsky)
– Ritual, Embodiment, Personification (Aby
Warburg)
Theoretical Framework
• Philosophy and Legal Theory:
– State of Exception, Apparatus, Control (Giorgio
Agamben; Gilles Deleuze; Michel Foucault)
– Sovereignty, Violence (Walter Benjamin; Jean-Luc
Nancy)
– Subject, Aesthetics of Law, Raison d’État (Cotas
Douzinas; Juliana N. Magalhães; Pierre Legendre)
Hypothesis & Methodology
• Digital images from popular film: reveals and
constitutes a media apparatus.
• network of power relations: institutions,
social actors, meaning, knowledge, imaginary,
government.
• Images from mainstream cinema: produced,
reproduced, distributed, consumed, modified
and criticized.
Diagram 1
Source: form the author
Methodology
• Images (=) or (//) Pictures
• Digital Images:
– Pictorial turn (W.J.T. Mitchell, 2011)
– Biopolitcs (//) Biopictures
– Representation Vs. Personification
• Biopictures: clone and terror.
• Spectral subjects
Diagram 2
Empirical Research
• Analysis of two movies and its images.
– Elite Squad (2007), José Padilha.
– The Dark Knight (2008), Christopher Nollan.
• Two allegorical and juridical-political
scenarios:
– War on Terror (EUA, 2001-?)
– Private War (Brazil, 1990s)
Empirical Research Outline
Media
reception:
social actors,
authorities
Digital
Images: film
/ web
Media
Reception:
specialized
Knowledge
Film
Discourse
Analysis:
character
building
Empirical Research Outline
• Media Reception:
– specialized magazines, websites, reviews, interviews, and
academic journals
• Institutional research:
– discourse of authorities, officers, politicians, journalists, in
editorials, documents, news, interviews and procedures
• Elite Squad (2007), José Padilha.
– 21 publications analysed.
• The Dark Knight (2008), Christopher Nollan
– 46 publications analysed.
List of films/images
• 300 (2007), by Zack Snyder
• Batman Begins (2005) and Dark Knight (2008), by
Christopher Nolan.
• Elite Squad (2007) and Elite Squad: the Enemy Within
(2010), by Jose Padilha.
• V for Vendetta (2005), by James McTeigue.
• Star Wars new trilogy: Episode I: The Phantom Menace
(1999); Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002); and
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005), by George
Lucas.
• The Matrix trilogy: The Matrix (1999), The Matrix
Reloaded (2003), and The Matrix Revolutions (2003) by
Larry Wachowski and Andy Wachowski.
Credits (Photos)
• Donkey Hotey - Occupy Wall Street protestor in Guy Fawkes mask holding
poster OCCUPY WALL STREET.
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October 15, 2011. Photo by Hedonoikos
Noelle Resende – Ocupa Rio
Mariana Araujo – Dia do Basta
Dia do Basta – Facebook Page
Ralph Orlowisk – Getty Images
Craig Wherlock – Demotix
Milos Bicanski – GlobalPost
References
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AGAMBEN, Giorgio. State of Exception. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005.
ALMOG, S.; AHARONSON,E. Law as film: Representing Justice in the Age of Moving Images. In: Canadian Journal of
Law and Technonolgy, Vol. 3, N.1, March 2004. Disponível em: <http://cjlt.dal.ca/vol3_no1/pdfarticles/almog.pdf>.
Acesso em: 23 jun 2009.
BENJAMIN, Walter. Doctrine of the Similar (1933) Source: New German Critique, No. 17, Special Walter Benjamin Issue
(Spring, 1979), pp. 65-69Published by: New German CritiqueStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/488010
DI ROBILANT, Anna. The Aesthetics of Law. Global Jurist Advances , Vol. 1 [2001], Iss. 2, Art. 1
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ELLUL, Jacques. A palavra humilhada. São Paulo: Ed.Paulinas, 1984.
______________. Perspectives on our age. Ed. revised and expanded. Toronto: House of Anansi press, 2004.
References
MAGALHÃES, Juliana Neuenschuwander. História semântica do conceito de soberania: o paradoxo da soberania
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MITCHELL, W. J. T. What Is an Image? New Literary History, Vol. 15, No. 3, Image/Imago/Imagination (Spring,
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MITCHELL, W. J. T. What Do Pictures "Really" Want? October, Vol. 77. (Summer, 1996), pp. 71-82. p.72. Stable
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MITCHELL, W. J. T. Cloning Terror: The War of Images 2001-04. In: COSTELLO, D. & WILSDOM, D. The Life and
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MITCHELL, W. J. T. Cloning Terror: The War of Images 9/11 to the present. Chicago University Press, 2011.
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