reflections on the panopticon [no. 9]

Baudrillard really emphasizes this theme of the panopticon in this section. The circular prison with cells arranged around a central point, usually a watchtower of sorts, from which prisoners can be observed at all times. This is definitely how media is presented to us today. Media is all around, it's always 'watching', and we always expose ourselves to it. So, much like the Loud family, when we are put in front of camera's does it lead to our own downfall? Baudrillard raises these important questions and leads us to believe there is need for more explanation besides the fact that the family might have been pressured to be in front of a film camera despite the fact that they acted as if they were not there. 

Perhaps the Loud family eventually felt like prisoners themselves, being viewed through this panoptic system that Baudrillard mentions. "The distinction between active and passive is abolished. No longer is there any imperative to submit to the model, or the gaze" (53 Simulations). He carries on to say you are the model and the majority that takes up this space. You become the news, you are social, the event is you, and you become involved in this system. And that is why you are part of the simulation. An example of this would be social media, we are the news, the model, the event. We produce content supposedly to present our 'most authentic self' to the world as advertised. 

Project Update

I decided to create ten images instead of four or five because it just seems like it's not enough for me. I want more of a storyline than can be carried in four images. One of my problems has been cropping the images exactly so when I upload them they do not create a seamless image, as I have mentioned before. But I'm working on it.