Contextual and Theoretical Studies: November 2009

Panopticism is the theory of self regulation, the idea that people who think they may be being watched, weather they really are or are not, police themselves. The Panoptic model is an architectural building by John Bowring and was used as a prison, but this theory can be translated to many situations in our society.
The Media unconsciously use a panoptic way of working with celebrity's, this idea that celebrity's are always being watched always being photographed even when they don't want to be seen, they must “never know whether he is being looked at any one moment; but he must be sure that he may always being so” (Foucault p82). We have all seen the evidence for this, the 'ring of shame' in magazines and the 'no make-up' shots, celebrities are deprived of their privacy, "he is seen, but he dose not see; he is the object of information, never a subject in communication"(Foucault p80). This creates a sense of paranoia that they are constantly under surveillance by the public eye, which most of the time they are, but this will provoke them to behave in a certain way, they will make sure they are perfect before they do anything, wearing make-up to go to the shop, but if they do not 'behave' then we "take pleasure in spying and punishing" (Foucault p83) and we all do it.