Bachelor thesis | Film- en literatuurwetenschap (BA)
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In this text, I conduct a historical exploration of the theoretical evolution of both the reader in literary studies and viewer in film studies. Spanning from Antiquities right up to contemporary...Show moreIn this text, I conduct a historical exploration of the theoretical evolution of both the reader in literary studies and viewer in film studies. Spanning from Antiquities right up to contemporary criticism, I illuminate their parallel, yet differing, transformations. In both disciplines, the theoretical reader or viewer are initially hypothetical, static, passive entities in object-centric, meaning film or text focused, modes of study. The theory of both film and literary studies eventually evolves to reverse that initial perspective of, and approach to, the relationship of the film or text to its viewer or reader, respectively. Both disciplines follow alternative paths which results in varying nuances and repercussions for their unique conceptions of the reading or viewing subject, the textual or filmic object, and their relation to each other. This work not only explores the evolutions of these disciplines regarding their subject, object, and the relationship thereof, but also examines said variations, nuances, and repercussions encountered to highlight that their greatest divergences stem from their political anchorages. In the end, we achieve a means by which we may draw comparisons between both these two disciplines regarding various conceptions of the reader, viewer, film, and text; enriching the field of Reader(ship), Viewer(ship), and Audience studies by approaching them from a combined perspective.Show less
This thesis is about the ‘Foucault-Habermas-debate’ in the sense that this thesis is an attempt to finish the debate between Michael Foucault and Jurgen Habermas which actually had not taken place....Show moreThis thesis is about the ‘Foucault-Habermas-debate’ in the sense that this thesis is an attempt to finish the debate between Michael Foucault and Jurgen Habermas which actually had not taken place. Habermas had criticized Foucault in the The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity but this work was published in 1985 after Foucault’s death. In this thesis I shall investigate to what extent the critique of Habermas on Foucault’s method of genealogy and his view on power and the subject, hold. In the first chapter of the thesis I am going to explain Foucault method of genealogy, his theory of the prison and his view on power. In the second chapter of the thesis I shall discuss some arguments of Habermas against Foucault’s method of genealogy and his view on power. In the third chapter of the thesis I shall defend Foucault against Habermas. In this part I will argue that Habermas misinterpreted Foucault on some points and that Foucault is able to reply to Habermas’ critique. Finally I conclude that Habermas critique on Foucault does not hold and that Foucault is ‘the winner’ of the debate.Show less
