This is a summary of Virilios book, War and Cinema: The Logistics of Perception .

I read this for a class on German Media Theory alongside Elias Canettis Crowds and Power, laus The!eleitsMale Fantasies and "riedrich ittlers Gramophone, Film, Typewriter. I guess it is strange to #relocate Virilio $a "rench theorist% like this, but his study of &the deadly harmony that al!ays establishes itself bet!een the functions of eye and !ea'on( fits in !ell !ith the mass 'sychology and focus on !ar in Canettis and The!eleits books, and !ith ittlers media archeology. There seem to be a number of critical assessments of )ar and Cinema on the )eb* here I 'ick out some of the key 'oints in Virilios argument and use e+am'les to sho! ho! his !ork $!ritten more than ,- years ago% is still rele.ant today. Virilio traces a co/'roduction of military and cinematic techni0ues and technologies, from the mass 'roduction of aerial 'hotogra'hy and cinematic 'ro'aganda to modern flight simulators and !ea'ons that &o'en their eyes( $e.g. laser guided missiles%. 1ll of this falls under the logistics of 'erce'tion more than 2ust 'rosthetic or remo.ed from the body, .ision is the result of a detailed coordination of com'le+ o'erations, a technological e+ercise that re0uires 'lanning, material su''ort, engineering, and so on. Shock and Awe: no war without representation The first rule or 'rinci'le Virilio outlines is that there is no !ar !ithout re'resentation. 1s scientific and meticulous as !ar becomes, it ne.er breaks from the #'re/technical ideas of !ar as dece'tion and illusion, s'ectacle and ca'ti.ation. 3o in addition to ma's and 'lanning $re'resentations of the battlefield% there are mediations such as the 'iercing sound of s!oo'ing 'lanes and missiles, designed to 'araly4e their soon/to/be .ictims. )hat !as 're.iously called the &theatre of o'erations( has been re'laced by the &theatre !ea'on( $5%. 6ooking to cultural and economic ties bet!een the industries, Virilio argues that cinema fits 'erfectly !ithin the !ar machine7 he cites, for e+am'le, arms industry funding of the German film com'any 8"1 in the 9:;-s, and the role of cinema stars and directors during the t!o )orld )ars $in 'ro'oganda, but also selling !ar bonds, etc.%. Con.ersely, he !rites that the !ar machine !ith its focus on mass/management o.er di.erse locales, logistics and 'lanning fits !ith cinema, and 'oints to the scaling/u' of 'roduction for films like Birth of a Nation. )hat defines cinema, Virilio !rites, is not the 'roduction of images but their mani'ulation7 'ans and tracking shots, 4ooming in and out, editing, etc. Cinema is the mani'ulation of dimensions, 'roducing de'th through mo.ement. 1s has been noted by artists and !riters before Virilio, this aligns the e+'erience of !atching mo.ies !ith that of flying. 1nd !hile 'ioneer directors !ere coming

to terms !ith this uni0ue as'ect of cinema, he argues, a.iation in the early ,-th century became less about breaking s'eed records and more about a ne! !ay of seeing.

1erial 'hotogra'hy !as introduced during the 1merican Ci.il )ar $.ia hot air balloons%, but came into its o!n during the first )orld )ar. It e'itomi4es Virilios logistics of 'erce'tion, in that it re0uires a large/scale o'eration, including 'lanning and 'ost/'roduction. In light of Virilios argument, it is fitting that Google Earth $!hich uses satellite imagery rather than aerial 'hotogra'hy% no! includes a flight simulator. 1s if the e+'erience of ho.ering o.er a ;/< image of the earth !as not cinematic enough, there are no! 'lenty of Google Earth #mo.ies on =ouTube, com'lete !ith soundtracks. The cinematic mani'ulation of dimensions has its 'recedent in the rifle sco'e. &In his 'encil/like embrasure, the look/out and later the gunner reali4ed long before the easel 'ainter, the 'hotogra'her or the filmmaker ho! necessary is a 'reliminary si4ing/u'. This action, like the seducti.e !ink so fashionable in the thirties, increased the de'th of the .isual field !hile reducing its o!n com'ass( $>:%.

3uch negation or elimination of distance, for Virilio, continues into cinema and on to simulation7 !riting about <isneylands City of Tomorro! and one of its signature films, #1round the )orld in Eighty Minutes, he says that &in the thirties, it !as already clear that film !as su'erim'osing itself on a geostrategy !hich for a century or more had ine+orably been leading to the direct substitution, and thus sooner or later the disintegration, of things and 'laces( $>5%. The substitution of 'laces of !ar goes hand in hand !ith shifts in technologies of 'erce'tion7 in order to esca'e the look/outs .ie! and that of aerial 'hotogra'hy, &the army began to bury its strongholds and out!orks in a third dimension, thro!ing the enemy into a fren4y of inter'retation. In.isible in its sunken de'ths, the camera obscura also became deaf and blind, its relations !ith the rest of the country no! de'ending entirely on the logistics of 'erce'tion, !ith its technology of subterranean, aerial and electrical communication(. Virilio !rites that the &fortress/tombs, dungeons and bunkers are first and foremost camera obscurae ? Their hollo!ed !indo!s, narro! a'ertures and loo'holes are designed to light u' the outside !hile lea.ing the inside in semi/darkness( $>:%. Directors and Dictators

1t different 'oints in the book, Virilio dra!s com'arisons bet!een stars and 'ilots, and bet!een directors and dictators. Cecil @ <eMille and others dis'layed &a charismatic infallibility stemming from forekno!ledge of scri'ts !hich, as it ha''ened, sometimes did not e+ist. "or a !hole generation of cinematic miracle/!orkers, the 'rocess of direction, e.en if im'ro.ised, literally took the form of re.elation A that is di.ine action !hich makes kon!n to men truths that they !ould not be able to disco.er by themsel.es( $B,%. &1t the same time ? a ne! breed of military and re.olutionary leader !as beginning to ha.e a similar charismatic effect on the masses. These men !ere heralds of the trans/'olitical era7 since real 'o!er !as no! shared bet!een the logistics of !ea'onry and of sound and images, $in other !ords% bet!een !ar cabinets and 'ro'oganda de'artments ? 'arliamentary 'o!er had disa''eared( $B,/B;% Citlers 'lan for a ne! German em'ire re0uired a &transformation of Euro'e into a cinema screen( $B;%. Ce looked &to relaunch the !ar as an e'ic( $B>%. 1 ma2or factor !as 'ro'aganda7 the conference from 6eni DiefenstahlsTri mph of the Will !as entirely fabricated for the screen e.erything !as set u' and 'erformed !ith reference to the camera.

A Traveling Shot over 80 years In the final cha'ter, Virilio $re%traces !hat he calls the fusionEconfusion of technologies of 'erce'tion and of !arfare. Ce starts ane!, this time !ith the introduction of searchlights in the Dussian/ Fa'anese battle of Gort 1rthur in 9:->. These searchlights !ere !ars first 'ro2ectors they &illuminated a future !here obser.ation and destruction !ould de.elo' at the same 'ace. 6ater the t!o !ould merge com'letely ? abo.e all H!ithI the blinding Ciroshima flash !hich literally 'hotogra'hed the shado! cast by beings and things, so that e.ery surface immediately became the !ars recording surface, its film( $5-%.

The searchlight !as a reaction, of course, to !ar being !aged from the air. It !as an e+tension of !hat Virilio calls &the deadly harmony that al!ays establishes itself bet!een the functions of eye and !ea'on,( a truth ominously e+'ressed years earlier in Etienne/Fules Mareys chronogra'hic rifle. Mean!hile, the military !ould de.elo' a range of in.isible !ea'ons de.oted to making things .isible. This included the radar 'icture, but today !e might also think of things like smart dust, used to remotely sense troo' mo.ement in the desert.

1fter Gort 1rthur, total !ar in.erted con.entional strategic 'lanning. Virilio !rites7 &in the !ars of old, strategy mainly consisted in choosing and marking out a theatre of o'erations, a battlefield, !ith the best .isual conditions and the greatest sco'e for mo.ement. In the Great )ar, ho!e.er, the main task !as to gras' the o''osite tendency7 to narro! do!n targets and to create a 'icture of battle for troo's blinded by the massi.e reach of artillery units, themsel.es firing blind, and by the ceaseless u'hea.al of their en.ironment( $5-%. That is, trenches, shell/shock, mo.ing front lines, the destruction of landmarks and so on, all im'eded .ision in one !ay or another. This necessitated the mass 'roduction of aerial 'hotogra'hs, of a ne! logistics of 'erce'tion. Virilio !rites that the &deadly harmony bet!een the functions of eye and !ea'on(, or the fusion and confusion of these o'erations, seems com'lete no! as !ea'ons &o'en their eyes( e+am'les include &heat/seeking missiles, infra/red and laser guidance systems, !arheads fitted !ith .ideo cameras( $J;%. 1 corollary of this for 'ilots is that they are trained to distrust their o!n eyes Virilio 'oints out that the significant moment has 'assed, in !hich flight simulation hours are officially recogni4ed as on 'ar !ith real flight hours for training. A

In conclusion, Ill 2ust say that it is not hard to see ho! Virilios arguments e+tend to the current )ar on Terror, !here an unseen threat has gone hand in hand !ith un'recedented le.els of 8.3. secrecy and s'ying. Kot to mention the nature of terrorism designed !ith mass media in mind.

Mean!hile, the searchlight !ith !hich Virilio began, remains an iconic 'resence in nearly e.ery ma2or city, and of course in the culture of cinema. Most eerily of all, though, !as 'erha's the use of JJ high 'o!ered search lights for the :E99 Tribute in 6ight memorial.