Recadrages: Pour une pragmatique historique du dispositif cinématographique

Abstract

The article suggests a re-interpretation of the concept "dispositif" (often translated into English as "apparatus") in the perspective of a historical pragmatics. After evoking the difficulties of translation and their consequences, the author discusses the ways in which Michel Foucault and Jean-Louis Budry have each conceptualised the dispositif. He then proposes to use the concept as a heuristic tool for the analysis of media, as it allows to focus on the uses of media technologies, rather than on media specificity, and to take into account their historicity.