This paper examines the representations of CCTV in contemporary popular culture, namely Hollywood film from the perspective of culture and film studies. It starts from the observation that a growing number of Hollywood films are not only using (fake) CCTV images within their narrative, but are actually developing 'rhetorics of surveillance'. Following the argument of Thomas Y. Levin, contemporary Hollywood film is increasingly fascinated with (the images of) video surveillance. This fascination can be explained with the use of 'real time' and a shift from spatial to temporal indexicality in these movies. The paper then takes a closer look at three recent films: Tony Scott's Enemy of the State, Steven Spielberg's Minority Report and David Fincher's Panic Room. The role and uses of CCTV imagery in these films are analyzed; the role of the heroine under surveillance is examined; modes of (im-)possible resistance against CCTV are discussed.

Every technology has its history. What are the beginnings of public television? This article explores the use of police CCTV in West Germany between the 1950s and the 1970s. In these early years, the public police cameras served three functions: the use of cameras in traffic management; the repressive use of cameras at demonstrations; and the persuasive use of the images. The second part of the paper takes a closer look at the third function: surveillance images as a means of persuading offenders of their guilt. It is argued, that a persuasive force exists and is consciously exploited by the police. But this force also weakens over time, when subjects acquire more and more media competence. The police respond to this problem with the transition from still to moving images – and beyond.

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Zusammenfassung Dank der Zunahme an Video-onDemand-Angeboten hat die filmwissenschaftliche Forschung und Lehre einen scheinbar schrankenlosen Zugriff auf ihren zentralen Untersuchungsgegenstand. Allerdings birgt diese neue Situation eine ganze Reihe von Problemen und Herausforderungen, nicht nur in rechtlicher, technischer und organisatorischer Hinsicht, sondern ebenso in methodischer und in filmtheoretischer Perspektive. Der Beitrag benennt und skizziert diese Probleme und verweist auf mögliche Lösungen zur Verbesserung der Lage.