PANOPTICON seminar

SEMINAR NOTES

TASK:

http://lostpedia.wikia.com

So before I begin I will explain what this all means because for some of you who have not seen or heard of LOST this will really not make sense.

LOST was a massive TV series 7 seasons long.

It began with Oceana flight 815, crashed on a island, the transmitter was broken, no body knows where they are and to make matteres worse there's a scarry monster that keeps eatign the serviours.

The very basics is on the island in the 60's a company called the Dharma Insative set up investigating the wierd magnetic energy the island has. 

The dharma is made up of several stations secretly hidden on the island:

the HYDRA,

the ARROW,

the SWAN,

the FLAME,

the PEARL,

the ORCHID,

the STAFF,

the LOOKING GLASS,

the TEMPEST,

the LAMP POST.

Throught the whole series even before you know anything about DHARMA the log is used to forshadow the futrue. (on a sharks tale abow).

The logos are also used for food, clothing, vehiles, animals, travel, they basically brand EVERYTHING.

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200 - 300 words.

QUOTES........

‘ The first is that’s of a pure community, the second that of a disciplined society.’

Pg 62. Line 39.

‘The plague is a form, at once real and imaginary, of disorder had as its medical and political correlative discipline.’

Pg 62. Line 23.

‘Rulers dreamt of the state of plague.’

Pg 63. Line 3.

‘The constant decision between the normal and the abnormal, to which every individual is subjected, brings us back to our own time by applying the binary branding and exile of the leper to quite different objects.’

Pg 63. Lines 29-32.

‘Visibility is a trap’

Pg 64.

Line 7.

‘ He is seen, but he does not see; he is the object of information, but never a subject in communication.’

Pg 65. Line 3-4.

‘He simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection’

Pg 65. Line 31-32.

‘The Panopticon was also a labority; it could be used as a machine to carry out experiments, to alter behavior, to train or correct individuals.’

Pg 66. Line 47-48.

I chose to use the example of the Dharma initiative and its placement within the hit TV series LOST.  Above I have explained roughly about what this community was and where they began. The log in itself id a brilliant form of Graphical Panoptic. Being very similar to the panoptical layout. The ‘tower’ of this design is the station symbols so either the pearl, the flam, the hydra, etc showing that they are always watching, in fact in the program they station are ALWAYS watching cctv is used around the island to track movements.

Foucault in his writing states:

‘ He is seen, but he does not see; he is the object of information, but never a subject in communication.’ Page 65. Line 3-4. Backing up the notion that as well as the survivors being constantly watched, they put themselves into that frame of mind. In a way the condemn themselves by giving the Dharma it’s power over them, the power of fear and omniscient. Without this fear and knowledge of being watched the survivors would feel at ease and be able to focus on getting away from the island and finding a way home.

The logos are placed everywhere on the island its

‘Visibility is a trap.’ Pg 64. Line 7. It scares the survivors and in a way controls the views from home as well, making us fear for the survivor’s lives, perhaps questioning us what would we do? Making us challenge the characters decisions and judgments. Here an excellent point:

‘The Panopticon was also a labority; it could be used as a machine to carry out experiments, to alter behavior, to train or correct individuals.’

Pg 66. Line 47-48.

We (the characters and the audience) become victims to this identity and mauled by its presence.