The creation of this mash-up was centered on an exploration of Michel Foucault’s concepts from the chapter “The means of correct training” from the book Discipline and Punish. Foucault writes, critiques, and details disciplinary power in this chapter and its development from the 18th century onwards. Contrasting with popular belief, Foucault begins the chapter by immediately arguing that the “chief function of disciplinary power is to train” (Foucault 170). The idea of power residing in a single, unified object that seeks to condense power and subjects into “a uniform mass” is misguided and inaccurate as a descriptor for actual practices. Rather, “power seeks to train” (Foucault 170). This is to say that the aim of power is to create individuals that operate in a system such that their individual powers and abilities are both the objects of control and the instruments of control. The distribution of forces, rather than the isolation and binding of forces works to multiply the overall effect and power of the entire system. By training and habituating individuals through discipline, the power is able to use the controlled individual against itself in a new and profound way. The film trilogy Lord of the Rings serves as a media basis for the mash-up because of its repeated themes of power through vision and training. The Eye of Sauron is the symbolic culmination of a “mechanism that coerces through observation” (Foucault 170) which is necessary and prior to the exercise of discipline. This mash-up delves into images and scenes depicting the Eye of Sauron in the act of disciplining and habituating the people of Middle Earth. Foucault states that the “perfect disciplinary apparatus would make it possible for a single gaze to see everything constantly” (Foucault 173), which is precisely what the Eye of Sauron is able to do.
To create the mash-up, the program Windows Movie Maker was used. This program is a basic, free program for Windows users that allows for the splitting of clips and minor editing and transitional effects. The program is less capable than other video editing programs such as Sony Vegas, however. Unlike Sony Vegas, Windows Movie Maker lacks the ability to edit the accompanying sound of a given clip or the length of a clip. Editing scenes can only be done by splitting larger clips into smaller clips, rather than precisely cutting at certain points or elongating or condensing a clip.
The mash-up arranges nine total clips, three from each individual film to form an arching, generic narrative of the power of the Eye of Sauron. The first scenes intend to introduce the Eye of Sauron and show its power and intent, and the ending clips show a rebellion and war against the eye that eventually leads to its destruction. In order to transfer the video data of the film trilogy from
Although unable to modify sound clips and layer or distort them, the program still allows for sound clips to be split and placed on top of other scenes. This was explored in the last clip of the mash-up, where the last 75 seconds of a song titled “Six Days at the Bottom of the Ocean” by Explosions in the Sky was layered over the final battle in the trilogy that concludes with the destruction of the eye. The clip features no words, and this worked well with the entirely instrumental sound clip to create a rhythm and emotional build-up, even without dialogue.
To assist in the video’s overall presentation, transitions and a title scene were added. Without the option of matching scenes precisely in sound and timing, crude transition effects were essential to make the gaps between clips less choppy and to flow into one another more smoothly.
The end product is an exposition of the abilities and strengths of the Eye of Sauron that can be analyzed in the context of Foucault. Foucault writes that “disciplinary power is exercised through its invisibility; at the same time it imposes on those whom it subjects a principle of compulsory visibility” (187). It is the constant visibility of a disciplined subject that keeps him or her in subjection. The constant threat of possibly being seen or known changes the attitudes and decisions that are made by subjects, and this is training. Supporting the notion that in distributing power, overall control is increased is Frodo using the ring. Frodo, when using the ring, becomes entirely visible to the Eye of Sauron.
The replacement of walls and cells with visibility is a fundamental occurrence in both the film and the text, and the Eye of Sauron experiences increased power and domination as its subjects, in this case Frodo, increase their powers. The Eye of Sauron is described in the beginning of the mash-up by the wizards Sarumon and Gandalf as a lidless wreathe of fire, constantly gazing and observing. The Eye of Sauron exhibits the same power and intensity of gaze that an entire institution such as a military camp or hospital might display, but with more ferocity.
With the amount of observation developed, the Eye of Sauron is able to understand and learn about its subjects and thus further manipulate them in a process Foucault describes as normalization. By knowing the intentions of individuals around the ring, the Eye gains knowledge of its weaknesses and can anticipate attack and rebellion. The understanding of its subjects through vision is critical for the system of power to maintain power in the face of opposition from subjects. The subjects and rebellious members plotting against the institution, in this case Frodo and the Fellowship, are left with few options. They admit that they cannot defeat Sauron through force, but must act as Sauron does. The Fellowship uses the same techniques of normalization with Sauron to eventually defeat him. By understanding Sauron’s tendencies, the Fellowship devises the plan to create a distraction which will draw the Eye away from Frodo. With the threat of constant visibility, and with their intentions and abilities studied, the subjects are normalized, which “imposes homogeneity” (184). Their course of action becomes predictable, calculable, and easier to control or counter. Foucault concludes that “like surveillance, normalization becomes one of the great instruments of power” (184).
The Eye of Sauron shows itself to be a masterful representation of an institution of power that derives its control through discipline and training of subjects to act in certain ways. It only further exemplifies the concepts put forth by Foucault when the Eye itself is destroyed by the very modes of control it uses. Despite having more visibility and power than its subjects, the Fellowship is able to abuse Sauron’s own habituations in order to lure the eye into constricting its own visibility by casting its gaze upon a trite, planned operation. The power of normalization and surveillance show themselves as they usurp the institution which has mastered these forms of control.
Works Cited
Explosions in the Sky. "Six Days at the Bottom of the Ocean." The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. Temporary Residence, 2003.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom. New Line Cinema, 2001.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom. New Line Cinema,2002.
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom. New Line Cinema, 2003.
Foucault, Michel. "Discipline and Punish.” FSU Blackboard. Florida State Univeristy. 29 April 2009 < bsession="94521601&bsession_str="session_id="94521601,user_id_pk1="468293,user_id_sos_id_pk2="1,one_time_token="">
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