Today's lecture focused on the topic of surveillance vs. souveillance (watching back). I thought this is interesting because we are used to being captured on surveillance cameras in our public life, but we have never thought about acting and watching the ones that watch us back. It leads me to wonder who is watching you on the other side or if there really is anybody, which relates to the example we talked about in lecture today.
Marc gave us an example of the panopticon, it is jail in which the cells are lined in a circular shape one on top of each other. The jail guards watch them in a tower in the center, where the window spans all the way across. The glass is tinted so the inmates have no idea when they are being watched or if there is anybody watching them. This forces the inmates to behave themselves at all times. This example relates to myself because I know that I am being watched all the time outside from home (sometimes inside my home) if not by cameras, by other people. Souveillance is similar when I look back at somebody that is looking at me.
In real life when my gaze is caught with somebody else, one or both of us would immediate turn away avoiding the gaze. This can be related to the surveillance camera performers as they perform in front of security cameras for the security and surrounding people to see. This is highly unnatural and, similar to my example, the security would like to avoid this from happening again and would rush to the scene and tell them to stop.
Why do people watch people if people don't like to be watched? Is it fun watching other people? - a question to think about
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