Michel Foucault

The French historian and philosopher, Michel Foucault, argues that a society can greatly influence how a certain subject is perceived and that an idea becomes dominantly accepted throughout the community, especially if issues that involve the majority of society arouse the concerns of the people. Gender roles are formed by what society deems acceptable. These societal norms are often the opinion of the majority. Those who adhere from said norms are often oppressed by the tyranny of the majority.…

Michel Foucault and Roland Barthes demonstrate themselves to be divergent thinkers and writers with the ideas they present in their lectures and writings. Their compelling critiques inspired the ideas of esteemed writers such as Julia Kristeva, Gilles Deleuze, along with students all over the world. Foucault and Barthes also expand upon and modify the ideas of others and were, themselves, influenced by revolutionary theorists. Some notable examples of this is how Karl Marx affected the writing…

Michel Foucault is a French philosopher and social theorist. Some of his important ideas he put forward are ideas Disciplinary institution, Genealogy, Governmentality, Power-Knowledge relationship, Objectification of subject. Foucault says that his main goal of his work is to understand how human beings are made subjects. He says, “the goal of my work during the last twenty years has not been to analyze the phenomena of power, nor to elaborate the foundations of such an analysis. My…

theories of Karl Marx, Max Weber and Michel Foucault, and explain which of these theories are the most compelling to understanding how power works in the todays modern contemporary setting. To illustrate and argue this point, this essay will explore and evaluate examples in the modern setting on the operation of power. This essay will explore the works of these three social theorists and discuss and contend on which (if any) theories by Marx, Weber or Foucault apply to modernity. This paper will…

The erasure of one’s memory and the immense loss that comes with it is undoubtedly a frightening thought. Imagine losing your identity or part of your humanity. Imagine feeling an emptiness that leads you to insanity. Imagine realizing that these conditions might be side effects of such a procedure. Part of being human is managing pain and suffering in all its forms and dealing with the trials and tribulations of life even while many of us would rather forget and desire to start a new chapter, a…

A Bad Encounter At this point in my life I had just turned 19 and was working at Tractor Supply. It was Friday and my night off when I received a phone call from work. It was Emily, the cashier that was working that night. She said that something had been delivered with my name on it and I needed to pick it up. She wouldn’t tell me what it was. So I good-bye to all of my friends and went into work When I walked through the door, on the counter was a bouquet roses. They were bright yellow and hot…

The film ‘Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind’, 2004, directed by award winning director Michel Gondry is a delightful film about the complex inner workings of one 's brain and the intricacies of human relationships. Encouraging the viewer to further reflect on their own life and outlook on the world with its complex storylines and themes. In the film Joel, portrayed by Jim Carrey, begins a relationship with Clementine, portrayed by Kate Winslet. The film follows the highs and lows of their…

One of America's religious practices that not many people talk about, but is shown a lot on the big screen, are exorcisms. On NBC in 1971, the first ever exorcism was televised (Newkirk, Week In Weird). The clip features NBC journalist Carole Simpson interviewing Ed and Marsha Becker, a couple who began to experience strange things after moving into their new Chicago home. They claimed to have been experiencing dramatic hauntings in their home. The couple called upon the help of medium Joseph…

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind “How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d” -Alexander Pope Just think, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind; isn’t that a lovely thought, to have a spotless mind? Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favorite films and it is also the source from which I first heard the aforementioned quote. The film focuses around…

Is there eternal sunshine in the spotless mind? This is the question posed by writers Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth in their movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This movie, directed by Gondry, explores the idea that feelings and emotions are more powerful than memories, and that if we erased all of our memories, we would still possess the feelings and emotions that were created by those memories. The movie was inspired by a male friend of Bismuth who said that he…