Foucault's reading, I thought was one of the easiest and most understandable readings we have had this semester. With our test this week I was able to make comparisons instantly within the ideas that Foucault was saying. When I first grasped this idea I instantly thought of our last test and the whole idea of how the ruling class has the power because of ideologies, but now power is within our eyes.
“neither in the amphitheatre, nor on the stage, but in the panoptic machine, invested by its effects of power, which we bring to ourselves since we are part of its mechanism” I thought this quote was interesting. Before doing this reading I was watching the news and thought about the idea of how some news shows are just debates whereas other ones are simply just a way to broadcast information. Foucault was influential after watching the news because it talks about how we are the issue, we are the enemy and yet we blame others. On the news you see issues that are debated out but what are we really accomplishing? If you watch the news and see a debate occurring, most likely, it is going to give off the impression that one side is blaming someone else but we, the United States. We develop this idea about how we are in charge and superior to everyone else. What we aren't realizing is that, the United States is the issue. Our news programs are bias and incorrect and that affects our societies because we trust the news.
After our test this week, I thought it was interesting to connect Foucault to the ideas of Disney. Foucault introduces the idea of the gaze alert being all over. We are always being watched and always need to be alert of our actions and what we can and cannot do. We are always watching and looking around, it is just our nature to do so but we are gazing and watching everything without intentions. It seems as though we are constantly being watched and especially at Disney it seems like a fake movie set. After making that comparison I then thought of the movie, The Truman Show. He was constantly being watched and filmed, although he didn't know, but all of the United States would tune in to watch Truman. I think it is really interesting to think of this idea that we are constantly being watched through the idea of simply looking around. Anyone and everyone, not just the members of the ruling class, are watching us.
According to Foucault power should be easy to see but at the same time it should not be understandable. We should be able to see the power, but it is not important for us to completely understand what is occurring. This idea of power can interlock into Althusser and his ideas of ISA's and RSA's. ISA's are unverifiable and therefore. Power has to be visible and unverifiable and this concept as Foucault explained is the concept of Panoption. Whoever is watching you is the person that is in power.
I think this entire piece by Foucault compares to the idea of social authority and ideologies. With ideologies and social authority there was never someone constantly watching you, but I grasped the idea that with Panoption you are constantly being watched and under surveillance and you must be on your best behavior. Could you imagine someone at Disney trying to do something dangerous? It is a norm that we have developed to know that doing so would be wrong in numerous ways. Foucault introduces the idea of power and lifestyle with the simple concept of watching.
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1 comment:
I know that 300 words is minimum but conciseness is also good! You make some bold statements but I see what you are getting at. Is it the media who are inaccurate or is it the, as Barthes puts it, the absent minded viewer to blame? Good blog and you show a solid understanding of the text. :)
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