| Abstract [eng] |
This dissertation examines Michel Foucault’s concept of panopticism by considering its relationship with contemporary power relations and film mechanisms. By reconsidering the circumstances in which panoptic power dispositifs were established within the context of Foucault’s works, and by drawing on his texts, as well as Michel de Certeau’s idea of the colonization of panoptic power microtechniques, a new understanding of the operational conditions of panoptic power mechanisms in contemporary society is developed. According to this understanding, once panoptic power mechanisms are established and attain the privileged status of a power machine in the 21st century, they do not cease to carry out their expansion. Synopticism is revealed as a power technique which masked, and continues to mask, the circulation of panoptic power mechanisms in new technologies and thereby creates conditions for panoptic power effects. The “God’s-eye-view” possessing the asymmetry of the gaze is shown to be the condition and driving force of the effectiveness of Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon. It is argued that Enlightenment ideas as well as related processes of secularization created favorable conditions for panopticism to establish itself as the predominant power dispositif. The possibility to rethink the problem of resistance in Foucault’s power project can be seen in the relation between panopticism, secularization, and religious contexts. |
