‘Shortsight’ Problem of the Modern Individual: Analysis of the Film ‘The Lobster’ on the Context of Foucault’s Subject and Power Concepts

The Lobster, the film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos in 2015, sets up a dystopic society that is expected to take place in the near future in a surreal style and focuses on the individual's sense of repression against power in the current system. The diegesis of the film consists of three different locations: “The City” where modern society individuals generally live, “The Forest” where the fugitives, who do not adopt to the modern society and “The Hotel”, which serves as a training camp and also a prison to re-adapt the individuals to the modern society and its rules. In The Lobster’s dystopic diegesis, the creation and shaping of power is realized through spaces and discourses, and an oppressive society structure is made by doing surveillance on the individuals. In each of these places there are different power relations, and the phenomenon of surveillance is the common point of all. Individuals are subject to the rules of relevant places according to the place which they are located. Accordingly, individuals are rewarded and punished for their actions. In this context, the film has a very close relationship with Foucault's perspectives on power and subject. Based on the ideas that Foucault's power is everywhere and can be shaped through spaces, how the three places in film produce their own power practice will be analyzed through the film. The position and subjectivity of the individual will be discussed in the face of power, and how people become objects of power at the same time as they become its producer. Finally, the reason why the modern individual is unable to fully comprehend the problem of ‘excess power’ in the dystopic society in which he lives is because of the director's preferences in the film. Thus, the dystopic universe of Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster, an important representation of 21st century’s Greek New Wave cinema, will be evaluated in terms of subject and power relations according to Foucault's philosophy with a critical perspective