Abstract
As Rockwell notes in “Somebody’s watching me” (1984), he always feels like somebody’s watching him, and he has no privacy. “I always feel like somebody’s watching me,” he adds, “Tell me, is it just a dream?”1 he wonders. Rockwell’s 1980s paranoid pop song seems to reflect the reality of today’s society. Living in a hyper-technological era, electronic eyes - among other things — surround us by encircling the private sphere an publicly exposing it. With the rise of high-tech devices, postmodern society has demonstrated a certain way of viewing through non-human devices, in some cases for surveillance purposes. New technologies keep “helping” us to see whatever, whoever, wherever and whenever we want, conferring an immense power on the viewer. Indeed, surveillance tools, specifically surveillance cameras, feed the voyeur’s desire: to watch (attentively observing) without being seen, offering a perfect device for any budding peeping torn! Moreover, these surveillance technologies reveal a new kind of self-exhibitionism by interrogating the act of look- ing at, of watching: “Surveillance metonymically encompasses looking and the complex and ambivalent nature of looking and being looked at, and these elements of human social life are currently undergoing radical transformation due to technological advancements spurring on a ‘culture of surveillance,’ or’ s urveillance culture’.”2
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Bazin, A. (1976, 2008). Qu’est-ce que le cinema? (13th edition). Paris: Editions Le Cerf.
Bell, D. (2009). “Surveillance is Sexy”. Surveillance & Society, 6(3): 203–212. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. <
Bolter, J. D., and R. Grusin (1999). Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Branigan, E. (2006). Projecting a Camera: Language-games in Film Theory. New York, London: Routledge.
Casetti, F. (2008). Eye of the Century: Film, Experience, Modernity. New York: Columbia University Press.
Denzin, N. K. (1995). The Cinematic Society: The Voyeur’s Gaze. London: Sage Publications.
Finn, J. (2012). “Chapter 4: Seeing Surveillantly: Surveillance as Social Practice”. In: A. Doyle; R. Lippert, and D. Lyon (ed.). Eyes Everywhere: The Global Growth of Camera Surveillance, London, New York: Routledge: 67–80.
Formby G., F. Cliff and H. Gilford. “When I’m Cleaning Windows”. When I’m Cleaning Windows, President Records, 1936. CD.
Foucault, M. (1975). Surveiller et Punir: Naissance delà Prison. Paris: Editions Gallimard.
Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Trans. Sheridan, A. New York: Vintage Books.
Goldsmith, B. (2007). “Look: Surveillance the Movie, Adam Rifkin’s take on Protein Filmmaking”. Web. 4 Jan. 2011. <http: URL //www.aftrsmedia.com/iscreenstudies/ ?p=106>.
Hart, H. (2007). “Sneaky Sex, Spooky Scenes: Look Flick Eyes Voyeuristic Surveillance”. Web. 4 Jan. 2011. <http://www.wired.com/entertainment/ hollywoo d/news/200 7/12/lo ok?cunent Page=2>.
Holert, T. (2002). “The Politics of “Outside”: Public Space, Surveillance, and George Michael”. In T. Levin, T., Frohne, U. and Weibel, P. (eds). Ctrl[space]: Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press: 563–577. Jullier L., and J-M. Leveratto. (2008). La Leçon de Vie dans Le Cinéma Hollywoodien. Paris: Vrin.
Lyon, D. (2011). Surveillance Studies: An Overview. GB, USA: Polity.
Manach, J-M. “Les Caméras de Surveillance Sont Aussi Efficaces que des Boîtes en Carton Peintes en Noires sur des Poteaux”, Bug Brother, 23 Januar? 2009. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. <http://bugbrother.blog.lemonde.fr/2009/01/23/les-cameras-de-\4deosurveillance-sont-aussi-efncaces-que-des-boites-en-carton-peint es-en-noires-sur-des-poteaux/>.
McGrath, J. E. (2004). Loving Big Brother: Performance, Privacy and Surveillance Space. New York: Routledge.
Michael, G. “Outside”. Outside, Epic Records, 1998. CD. Phillips, S. (ed.). (2010). Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera since 1870. San Francisco and New Haven, CT: San Francisco Museum of Modem Art, Yale University.
Rockwell, C. and A. Nolen. “Somebody’s Watching me”. Somebody’s Watching Me, Motown, 1984. CD.
Simon, B. (2005) “The Return of Panopticism: Supervision, Subjection and the New Surveillance”. Surveillance & Society 3(1): 1–20. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. <
Steiner, H., and K. Veel. (2011) “Living Behind Glass Façades: Surveillance Culture and New Architecture”. Surveillance and Society 9 (1 URL /2): 215–232. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. <
“Surveiller”, definition on the online Larousse dictionary, n.d. Web. 8 Sep. 2010. <http: URL //www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/surveiller>.
Turner, J. S. (1998). “Collapsing the Interior/Exterior Distinction: Surveillance, Spectacle”. Wide Angle Volume 20, Number 4, October: 93–123.
Tziallas, E. (2010). “Torture Porn and Surveillance culture”. jump Cut no. 52, Summer 2010. Web. 7 Aug. 2011. <http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc52.2010/ evangelosTorturePorn/>.
Filmography
Caché. Dir. M. Haneke. Perf. D. Auteuil, J. Binoche and M. Bénichou. Les Films du Losange/Wega Film/Bavaria Film/BIM Distribuzione/France 3 Cinéma/arte France Cinéma/Eurimages/Centre National de la cinématographie (CNY)/Canal+/ ORF Film-Femseh-ABkommen/Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)/StudioCanal/ Æsterreichisches Filmimsutut/Filmfonds Wien/Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 2005.
Disturbia. Dir. D.J. Caruso. Perf. S. LaBeouf, D. Morse and C.-A. Moss. DreamWorks S KG/Cold Spring Pictures/Montecito Picture Company, 2007.
Eye of the Beholder. Dir. S. Elliott. Perf. E. McGregor, A. Judd and P. Bergin. Ambridge Film Partnership/Behaviour Worldwide/Destination Films/Eye of the Beholder Ltd/FIlmline International/Hit & Run Productions/Village Roadshow Pictures, 1999.
The Get Out Clause (music video). Dir. Paper (self-produced). Perf. Paper. 2008. Homeland. Developed by H. Gordon and A. Gansa (based on the Israeli TV series Hatufim created by G. Raff). Perf. C. Danes, D. Lewis and M. Baccarin. Showtime, 2011-present.
Interview with Dibakar Banerjee. Bonus on the LSD: Love, Sex our Dhoka. Balaji Telefilms, 2010.
Look. Dir. A. Rifkin. Perf. J. McShane and S. Redford. Captured Films, 2007.
Look (Season 1) (TV series). Dir. A. Rifkin. Perf. A. Cobrin and S. Hinendael. Showtime Entertainment Television, 2010.
LSD: Love, Sex aur Dhoka. Dir. D. Banerjee. Perf. N. Chauchan, N. Bharucha, A. Jha and R. Kumar Yadav. Balaji Telefilms/ALT Entertainment/Freshwater Films, 2010.
Outside (music video). Dir. V. Arnell. Perf. G. Michael. Sony BMG Music Entertainment, 1998.
Sliver. Dir. P. Noyce. Perf. S. Stone, W. Baldwin and T. Berenger. Paramount Pictures, 1993. Snake Eyes. Dir. B. de Palma. Perf. N. Cage, G. Sinise and J. Heart. DeBart/ Paramount Pictures/Touchstone Pictures, 1998.
Video Voyeur (music video). Perf. The Good Natured. Pariophone Records Limited 2011.
The Wire (TV series). Created by D. Simon. Perf. L. Reddick and M. K. Williams. Home Box Office (HBO), 2002-2008.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2014 Meera Perampalam
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Perampalam, M. (2014). Voyeurism and Surveillance: A Cinematic and Visual Affair. In: Padva, G., Buchweitz, N. (eds) Sensational Pleasures in Cinema, Literature and Visual Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137363640_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137363640_16
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-47309-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-36364-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)