A Gaze through Cracks: The Location of Concealed Drives under the Lens of Panoptic Camera in the Movie Anna Karenina (2012)

Abstract

This paper attempts to scrutinize the art of camera gaze and its function with the help of Foucault’s idea of Panopticon in the movie Anna Karenina (2012), directed by Joe Wright. The movie is projected on theatre setting and the characters are encaged within the surroundings. In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyze certain directions and focuses of camera to locate the characters and their emotions in panoptic lens. The movie contains certain panoptic points in which characters seem to be trapped and this paper tends to focus on such modes of surveillance on the characters in order to magnify the function and presence of panoptic camera in the movie. Foucault has discussed the idea of Panopticon with respect to power and this idea will be transformed into the concept of panoptic gaze implored on suspected and taboo characters. The characters are under constant watch and this “camera gaze” i.e. “panoptic effect” adds more significance to film. It will also be considered that how specifically panoptic camera works in the movie under certain directions. The paper sets a cornerstone to analyze cinematographically based presence of panoptic gaze which can drive certain emotions and impacts in the movie.