Title
Document Type
Thesis, Senior
Degree
B. ARCH
Date
Spring 2014
Keywords
scope, optics, vision, gaze, eyes, seeing, visibility, view, scopophilia, power, survey, spectacular, cinema, photography, voyeurism, glass, mirror, riot, revolt, stage set, theater, path, panopticon, armature
Language
English
Disciplines
Architecture
Description/Abstract
Perhaps the most scripted way of seeing is fully characterized by the field of cinema. The development of film grows out of moving images where experimentations with illustrations and multiple freeze frame photographs can be traced back to Eadward Muybridge, E.J. Marey, and Thomas Edison. Through the development of tropes and scopes, optical illusions are created and the eyes begin to see motion images. Cinema, a spectacular event, owes its origins to the evolution of these devices and photography. The other variation of these devices of spectacle are surveillance tools. These devices transform the audience from mere spectators to observers or surveyors. It is no longer about passively absorbing moving images but the observer now has implications of actions that follow visual contact. The sight lines out of a military bunker most likely suggests gun fire to follow. The periscope of a submarine skims the surface while the commander may project its torpedo at the subject. The bomb sight of a plane is a detail of a high degree of fine tuned calibration through sight which leads to the pulling of a lever and opening of the bomb bay doors, leading to the release of a barrage of explosives.
Recommended Citation
Ma, Michael, "Surveillance, Spectacle" (2014). Architecture Senior Theses. 193.
https://surface.syr.edu/architecture_theses/193
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Additional Information
Thesis Advisers: Alan Smart, Robert Petrie