Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Week 9 - Surveillance
Well after this mornings discussion and this weeks readings im kinda understanding why our generation is not to fazed by surveillance. In the reading there was a discussion about George Orwell's novel 'Nineteen Eighty Four' all about the cocept of Big Brother! Well our generation has grown up watching a show which has turned this concept into entertainment "BIG BROTHER"!So what was seen within Orwell's novel as a warning about surveillance potentials of the nation state, has been completely re-framed into prime time entertainment where we take enjoyment into the total viewing of selected house mates daily lives for three whole months! So maybe the reason why before today i did not see the problem with surveillance is because shows like Big Brother re-frame this issue of survielance into light hearted veiwing material, that installs a relaxed and a sense of 'normality' around total survielence. Maybe shows like big brother are made only to re-assure us that 24 hour surveillance is no big deal but in fact so normal that we to choose to survey a group of random house mates for our veiwing pleasure! So there you have maybe my relaxed opinion of surveillance is only that because its been framed as something both acceptable and well entertaining!And maybe thats why big brother has survived so long on t.v. even though its a crap show, because we use it to reassure us that surveillance is normal in fact maybe comical!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Excellent point! The normalization of surveillance (particularly the remote surveillance enabled by cameras and new tech) is a very novel phenomena. I wonder what the ultimate ramifications of such cultural practices might be? An Orwellian vision? Or just business and usual(once dinosaurs like me stop protesting The Man and shuffle off this mortal coil)?
yea really good point, i think that is so true how it has helped to make surveillance more natural and accepted in society
Yeah its kinda scary how normal i thought surveillance was until it came up in class, it wasn't until i started asking myself why that i realized its not my fault its how you said a novelty in society! ah
i agree. im doing my essay on surveillance and i really see no problem with it. As you say we have grown up with it and we see it as the norm. Maybe its a good thing that we arent fazed by this, as the next generation will also be bought up in a surviellance society, and then this issue wont be such a big deal!!
Post a Comment