Imagining yourself one of a multitude: ideology critique of urban crowd depictions

Abstract

Revisiting the array of image formats for the scenic picturing of urban environments and concomitant spectator roles, the topic of this investigation is how certain crowd formations serve as manifestations of ideological power in modern cities. Examples of crowd depictions are drawn from both visual art and popular culture. Michel de Certeau sees panoptic surveillance in the modern city as calling forth a “scenic other” located below its threshold of visibility. Prompted by this notion, the aim of this study is to investigate the historical conjunctions between stereotypical views of urban masses and urban spaces in ideological perspectives, as well as certain typiconic
features of a number of alternative visual traditions in Western depictions of the populace in urban settings.