Film Study versus Filmmaking: From A Foucauldian Perspective

Anyone interested in film or television studies have experienced the dilemma regarding whether to concentrate entirely on the theory and scholarly concerns regarding films or to acquire first hand practical knowledge of this highly technical medium. Both the aspects of this medium are so expansive that it requires essentially focused attention to acquire profound understanding of any one of them.

Abundant and dedicated exposure and knowledge of practical aspects of filmmaking will definitely shape up a future filmmaker with technical brilliance yet his knowledge about the film medium especially the theoretical aspect of it will normally remain insufficient. While efforts toward dabbling in both the realm, may have a trend towards marring both the aspects although rarely some gifted film directors manage to grasp both to a certain extent. Even then, scholars may argue on the level of proficiency in a particular aspect over another.

Film study courses in various universities generally refer to theoretical and pedagogic discourses on films and aims at analytical conceptualization of various films, film theories based on the socio-economic and historic context. Although, most film studies courses incorporate one of two practical diploma films or video fiction or non-fiction projects within their syllabi. Concerns over apparent laxity regarding practical filmmaking may point towards the argument concerning the relative worth of purely pedagogic and theoretical discourse of film study and practical, hands-on approach to filmmaking.

Knowledge itself is empowering; it can be in any realm but specific, meticulous knowledge confer a certain amount of power to the person who possesses it. As the eminent philosopher and theorist Michel Foucault suggests that those who enjoy authority, power and ascendancy possess special, often precise and identifiable knowledge of a particular field. This power yields itself through articulation about specific discourse within social practices and situations. To have knowledge, (in this context about film theory or historiography) is to acquire a status where, one’s statement would be accepted as veritable and true; his or her discourse becomes inter-subjective interactions with reciprocal consequences. "What is known" to that person is presented to "others" as "truth"; implying a power relation between them, undeniably positioning the former in higher hierarchical status. The discourse recognized within the social construction fabricates power in societal relations and donates dependability to the ideas emanating from knowledge.

Foucault in the book, "Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews & Other Writings" comments on the construction of power through discourse:

"Discourses are not once and for all subservient to power or raised up against it, any more than silences are. We must make allowance for the concept’s complex and unstable process whereby discourse can be both an instrument and an effect of power, but also a hindrance, a stumbling block, a point of resistance and a starting point for an opposing strategy. Discourse transmits and produces power; it reinforces it, but also undermines and exposes it, renders it fragile and makes it possible to thwart it."

Therefore, we may possess "knowledge" of film theory, which essentially means to exercise distinctive power and control within a unique discourse about film studies. The film scholar owns distinctive expertise to critically discuss and analyze films and since he is associated with the specialized discourse, his statements are acknowledged as unfailing and legitimate, bestowing power to that person.

However, Foucault himself exclaims, "discourse can be both an instrument and an effect of power" – which further complicates the notion as it points towards the fact that there cannot be any film analysis without film production, there cannot be a film historiography without the development of film studios and so on. Hence films and the process of making films becomes an "instrument" which facilitates the discourse and reinforces the Power/Knowledge association.

This reciprocal relation between theory and practical is not only prevalent in film study but it is prevailing in any academic field. Nonetheless the efficacy depends on the presupposition that there exists an ideal social situation which will work as a matrix for such a discourse and that "the other" will assume the proclamation as "true".