300 Words on Panopticism

 

Above: A surviving example of the
Panopticon prison

As someone is thrust in to the public eye so suddenly, the panoptic state becomes omnipresent as they're exposed to people's judgments or at least the fear of those particular judgments and how to behave and conform to these rules and expectations. It is this willingness to conform and shape one's self in sight of the "all seeing eye" that controls the public in such a way to force us in to the mould of becoming "docile bodies" - a consciously aware law abiding citizen who refrains from challenging authority because they are the perfect example of authority's design. In the new post-modern age, panopticism is inescapable. The richest cultural example of the panoptic environment is of course the Big Brother house, as like bacteria under a microscope, each individual's behavioral mutation and differentiations of character can be studied both on a passive and critical level.

Above: The Big Brother's
all-seeing eye.

A hopeful contestant’s willingness to conform to how they believe they must act in order to reap success in the interview stage or “audition”, which seems more fitting, stems from an entrants fear of being declined from the process. Society promotes popularity and success as happiness, so Big Brother stands as the golden gates to this success. When one individual is declined this access because their behavior has not fulfilled the authority (or director)’s desire, the opportunity is otherwise rejected.

Within the walls of the Big Brother house, an example of one housemate is bombarded by pressure to act in ways that pleases the directors of the house itself, their fellow housemates, family and friends watching the show, as well as securing safety in the voting system. All of these factors are juggled whilst the housemate is trying to sustain a consistent version of how they believe their behavior is naturally projected and received by authority figures. In resisting controversy and anarchy, and behaving in a way that fulfills the rules of the house, the expectations of fellow housemates, friends, family and the voting system, the housemate becomes a “docile body” – a law abiding perfect model of what the institution expects.