Critical Writing Index

'To Think the Home in Terms of the Factory'

by Elisa Adami and Alex Fletcher

Third Text, Jan 2017, v. 31, no. 1, pp. 79-95

Routledge, 2017

Inspired conceptually by the Marxist theory of social reproduction, this essay focuses on Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville's 1975 film Numéro Deux. In particular, this paper explores Godard's metaphor to "think the home in terms of the factory." As such, this text addresses how this idea is played out in Numéro Deux and in the filmmaking practice of Godard and Miéville as a whole. Consequently, this article foregrounds the labour inherent to the filmmaking process, specifically postproduction and editing. Concurrently, Godard and

Miéville deconstruct the gendered nature of film production, calling attention to how directing is associated with the male and editing is associated with the female. Accordingly, the editing room is seen as a domestic space. Thus, the author argues that the home and small-scale film production are presented as an alternative to the standard mode of large-scale film production in which works are seen to be made in a factory-like setting. This article also examines Godard and Miéville's utilization of video.

ITEM 2017.005 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

Numéro DeuxJean-Luc Godard

Numéro DeuxAnne-Marie Miéville