The Cinematic Subject Gets Social: An Apparatus Theory for Instagram

Abstract

This thesis seeks to understand the addictive appeal of Instagram through the lens of apparatus theory, or 1970s film theory. Using an approach derived from media archaeology, the thesis puts apparatus theory in conversation with Instagram, to trace a cinematic prehistory for the new media platform. Instagram invites its users to perform ideal selves, turn everyday time into an experience of destiny, play games of belief with images, and participate in politics through audiovisual means. These Instagram practices, the thesis argues, represent an innovation in cinematic processes and pleasures as they were conceptualised in apparatus theory. Through the encounter between film theory and social media, the thesis thus proposes that Instagram is best understood as a newly interactive, highly personalised form of cinema.