I’ve formed some to the conclusions concerning Ranciere (as I have been trying to get my head around this all semester). I now understand that his “aesthetic regimes” can be understood in several different ways.
1. Although aesthetics, according to Ranciere, is synonymous with political events, a regime doesn’t necessarily have to be explicitly political or historical, and doesn’t have to be thought of in terms of governance.
regime = a system or planned way of doing things
I found this definition more useful because it seems to broaden the term. In this sense, a regime can be thought of in terms of what is done. It can be in a group of people, a movement or even just one person.
artistic forms reflect social structures or movements (14)
Therefore, the linke between poltics and aesthetics/cinema isn’t always explicit. (as in, a film doesn’t have to be “political” in order to be thought of in this way.) All films are a product of the politcal climate in which they are made. A prime example is Blissfully Yours. The film doesn’t set up the political situation on the Thai/Burma border and it could be read in a way that ignores poiltcs yet it is still synonymous with its aesthetic.
2. Something that interests me about Ranciere’s “aesthetics” is his idea of the equality involved in aesthetics. In this interview, he uses the Internet as an example of “equal intelligence.” It means, according to Ranciere, that the circulation of words and knowledge could be appropriated by anyone. A speaking being, according to Aristotle, is a political being. (12) But when Aristotle said this, a slave that understood the language of its rulers still did not ‘possess it.’ I think Ranciere is right though. Although there are still groups condemned to silence, the evolution of the media has seen the emergence of many previously silent groups.
An example that immediately came to my mind was the Zapatistas, the Mexican-based revolutionary movement who have used the internet to not only harness support, but to form a larger indigenous-based, anti-globalization movement. Their website is basic but it has worked because it can be appropriated by anyone.
Furthermore, Rage Against The Machine have gotten on side…
“turn that shit up”
I suppose music could also be a place for “equal intelligence.” Ranciere talks about establishing a “community of readers as a community without legitimacy, a community formed only by the random circulation of the written word.” (14) This could be transposed to form a community of listeners or a community who surf randomly on the internet or even a community of cinema spectators. Therefore, these equalities destroy hierarchies of representation. (14) Thus, we have the “aesthetic regime of the arts” which frees art from hierarchies, genres or rules and allows it to be singular. (wow, I’ve come full circle)
