Amateur biopolitics
generalization of a practice, limits of a concept
pp. 111-122
in: Silke Panse, Dennis Rothermel (eds), A critique of judgment in film and television, Berlin, Springer, 2014Abstract
In the current stage of capitalism, amateur images emerge as a paradigmatic format of production that reflects controversy about the subjective and affective practices of consumer–spectators who have also become producer– collaborators. This chapter discusses the biopolitical slant of this universe of images: the modulation strategies developed by companies and the modes of capitalization of life they engender. Our main goal is to discuss the concept of the amateur, indicating its limits in the face of contemporary practices of image production, as well as the constraints and the possibilities of judgment these images pose to us.