Power and the Panopticon

        

             In his essay “Panopticism,” Foucault explains the Panopticon as a machine of power. The model of the Panopticon represents power, according to Foucault, because the supervisor in the center can control all of the inmates around him, even without doing much. The person who exercises the power holds the ability to watch and punish the inmates, who are under constant surveillance. The idea that someone is watching you at all times makes a person more aware and careful of their surrounds and their actions, and the person of power is responsible for this. Foucault really believes that the Panopticon is a model for power all around the world, and he states that “it does not matter who exercises power” and “it does not matter what motive animates him.” I agree that the Panopticon is representative of power because it is really about who we as a society think possesses it that matters. Most people would agree that in America, the government has the power. They are watching us, making sure that we don’t break the laws, etc. and they are the ones who can punish us. Even if they aren’t watching us at all times, we think they are, causing us to obey rules and regulations. If we believed someone else had all of the power, then we would do the same thing to them. This is the way that I interpret what Foucault is trying to say about the Panopticon, but even though I have pulled this concept from his text, I still do not quite understand everything that Foucault is trying to say. If the whole world worked like a Panopticon, then why do so many people still deviate? This may be an unanswerable question that maybe even Foucault himself could not answer.

            Foucault is not the only author to write about the principle of power. Berger, Bordo, and Nochlin wrote about power, but each applied in different ways. Berger presents the agency of power as it relates to art, and how the political nature of art could change the way people view history. Bordo presents power as a sort of struggle between genders, and how women used to have the power when it came to being sexualized, but in recent years, men have acquired power in the industry by being sexualized. Also, Bordo’s argument could be seen as a power struggle between the media/marketing and society in general. Nochlin’s argument of the Bathers shows that the power lies within the paintings. These paintings have shaped society’s expectations on how men and women present themselves. I believe that by reading each of these essays, it has helped me understand how power is a common theme among writers, and that the argument of power and who should have it can present itself in many situations, often unknown. I definitely think that any person who has read these essays, including myself, will be much more willing to question the world and the things that our parents, teachers, and superiors have taught us in the past.