Michel Foucault was one of my favorite readings of the year. I think that is in part because it was towards the end of the semester mainly because after reading this it felt as though it related to nearly all of the theorist that we talked about throughout the semester, and because I love the idea of the panopticon that Foucault presents, and I love the way that he presents it as a piece of architecture and then talks about it on a much larger scale as a social theory, or panopticism.
Directly after class, I went to watch the guardians of the galaxy clip with the panopticon and they actually escaped from the panopticon in the movie, but it was a good representation of a panopticon and how it actually worked. One guy overseeing all of these inmates, all not knowing if they are being watched or heard the whole time. The interesting thing to think about when we think about government surveillance today and everything they do to keep tabs on the American public. I would be curious to hear what Foucault would have to say about the NSA and everything they do today in terms of recording and spying on the American public the way they do. When WikiLeaks came out and Edward Snowden leaked everything that he did, even though much of it was done to keep the American public safe, much of the public was not okay with it. Even many of the people who were doing the spying were not okay with it. Knowing that the government can see all that you do on the internet, and even tap into your webcam in a way makes you rethink everything you do. Being alone no longer really meant that you were alone if you had some type of electronic device around you. Knowing that someone is always watching makes people act differently and doesn’t allow people to have any real “alone time.” This idea of panopticism is something that we are just starting to see governments do, but it gets scarier as technology is reaching new heights each and every year.
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