The Power of Gaze

In class, we discussed the acts of looking; where images give those who look at them a sense of themselves as an individual human subject in the world. We, as the viewers, make the meaning of the artwork. We are interpellated on a daily basis, whether we are aware of it or not. Something that I was interpellated by was the idea of an inspecting gaze. This is the idea that people are going to act more appropriately when they are under the impression that they are being watched. The gaze gives a sense of relationship to power. We are constantly being watched every day. Our book talks about being watched in grocery stores, elevators, parking garages, and other public places. In class, we talked about cameras above traffic lights and at intersections. When people see these cameras, they have the sense that someone is watching them, so they slow down or stop at the red light. We have no idea if these cameras work, or are even turned on; but that is not the purpose for the cameras. For the most part, it doesn't even cross peoples minds that they may not even be turned on. Another idea of inspecting gaze was Jeremy Bentham's invention of the Panopticon Penitentiary. Our book discusses three key components for the purpose of this idea: panopticism, power/knowledge, and biopower. Bentham's brilliant plan consisted of one gaurd tower in the center of a circular prison, that was capable of seeing into every cell and hearing everything going on, however; none of the cells could see into this tower. I was even more fascinated when we discovered that the tower was never actually used. This was there for the inmates to feel as if they were being watched. Humans have a fear of being watched, and will act differently if they feel that sense of inspecting gaze.