Wouldn’t it be brilliant to
have a field of studies initiated around you and your concepts? Well Foucault
has done just that! After surfing Foucault’s noble name on the web for possibly
the very last time I came across something quite interesting. There, in its
black bold font shone the words “Foucault Studies”. He really has made an
impact on the modern age. Maybe I’m giving Foucault a little more credit than
he deserves, but I can’t help but remain fascinated with this man’s influence
on modern works.
Foucault has had much of an
impact on modern media, having helped develop the “Queer theory”, as well as
theorising sexuality and gender roles in society. His concepts on power and
archaeology are equally important in the field of media studies. For Foucault the
importance of history is not necessarily the event but people's depictions of
the event. Therefore he forces us to question reality and truth of not just
history but of the present day. Foucault analyses the relationship between
truth and power and argues that "Truth isn't outside power…Truth is a
thing of this world…Each society has its regime of truth, its 'general
politics' of truth; that is, the types of discourse which it accepts and makes
function as true", quoted from Formations
of Modernity: Edited by Stuart Hall & Bram Gieben (1992). However
mass media is a worldwide source and is used globally in our everyday lives, therefore
it has the power to globalise various ideas and values. However, with all the institutions of media being owned by westerners, then mass media is a Westernised source and has the ability to change other people's beliefs on the "truth".
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