TECHNES Encyclopedia Database

In the case of certain images produced by a very close proximity to the body, as often occurs in Leviathan (Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, 2012), the concept of somatic image invites us to see instead the limits of what an image can tell us about the body at its source. In this film, sometimes described as a documentary on industrial fishing in New England, the filmmakers do not resort to the typical strategies of the most common forms of documentary. Paravel and Castaing-Taylor chose instead to mount GoPro cameras at various spots on the ship, including the mast, at the end of rods and in tubs of fish, but also on the fishermen’s bodies.