Given that the word ‘Panopticon’ entered the vernacular of many LOST fans after it was discussed at Comic-Con last week (when Damon and Carlton verified it as one of the reasons that Locke was given the pseudonym Jeremy Bentham), I thought it was time to delve into the real Bentham’s design and analyze how it relates to our vanishing island.
In 1785, philosopher Jeremy Bentham designed a circular prison building called a Panopticon, featuring a central observation tower surrounded by jail cells; all inmates were to be monitored around the clock without knowing who was watching or when. Bentham was inspired by a Parisian military school, with manageable supervision in mind.
He did not live long enough to see his vision come to life, but there are several modern variations in various countries (Arnhem, Breda and Haarlem: Holland, Carabanchel Prison: Spain, Chi Hoa prison: Vietnam, Caseros Prison: Argentina, Huron Historic Gaol: Canada, Millbank Prison: England, Mount Eden Prisons: New Zealand, Old Provost: South Africa, Palacio de Lecumberri: Mexico, Presidio Modelo: Cuba, Round House: Australia, Statesville Correctional Centre: Illinois, Twin Towers Correctional Facility: California).
Here are Bentham’s thoughts about the system, as expressed in 1798′s Proposal for a New and Less Expensive Mode of Employing and Reforming Convicts:
“A building circular. The prisoners in their cells, occupying the circumference; the officers in the centre. By blinds and other contrivances, the Inspectors concealed…from the observation of the prisoners: hence the sentiment of a sort of omnipresence–the whole circuit reviewable with little, or… without any, change of place. One station in the inspection part affording the most perfect view of every cell.”
Replace a few words from the LOST world, and…
“An archipelago isolated…the passengers on the beach, occupying the circumference-the Hostiles in the center. By monitors and other contrivances, the Others concealed…from the observation of the passengers: hence the sentiment of a sort of omnipresence-the whole island reviewable with little, or…without any, change of place. One man/one company in the inspection part affording the most perfect view of every hatch.”
French philosopher Michael Foucault compared the Panopticon to modern society, and cautioned that ‘visibility is a trap.’ While that warning can be applied to the island’s location and Ben and the Others’ modus operandi, it is also quite appropriate for whomever or whatever Jacob may be. Whoever created and implemented the hatch system for a variety of experiments also shielded their true identity from those they were studying.
The structures at the Presidio Modelo in Cuba strongly resemble above-ground, inverted hatches:
Additionally, there are similarities between the aerial view of the Panopticon layout and the Swan hatch blast door map:
There are myriad literary and film references to Bentham’s design as well. George Orwell’s character Big Brother in Nineteen Eighty Four is an obvious nod to the Panopticon; the hatches and surveillance cameras on the island smile in both directions. And The Truman Show presents a modern day Panopticon. [If I had to venture a guess, Sayid will be Truman...the first among the Oceanic 6 to uncover exactly who 'produced' their entire experience; who was watching them, for how long and why.]
Theorize away. This is my debut post on DocArzt, so feedback and theories are welcome!
A few inquiries to get the ball rolling…
Is Ben Linus the central observation system on the island? Was Jacob his predecessor?
Was Widmore present when the original hatches and housing were built?
Were either Widmore Industries or Paik Heavy Industries involved in the design of the
Dharma stations?
Were the passengers of Flight 815 all specifically pre-selected and brought to the island to undergo Panopticon-style observation as a group for their various crimes and behaviors?
Was the Santa Rosa Mental Institution, where Hurley, Libby and Locke’s mother were all patients, a Panopticon being utilized by those responsible for their current conditions and whereabouts?
12 Responses to “Jeremy Bentham, the Panopticon and the Island”
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If that’s the case, is Jacob watching the watchmen?
I’m not sure how much the panopticon actually applies to the show so far, except for the pearl station (or the one with all the monitors.) The basic theory that Bentham (and most modern prisons are moving towards) is that you don’t actually need someone to be watching all the time to make people behave, you just need the credible threat of someone watching. I haven’t really picked up on that theme much. An important part of the theory is that you know that you could be being watched at all times.
Um…the question mark station was the one in the middle and it was responsbile for spying on the swan! It almost works out too perfectly!
That would obviously make Jacob the watcher? That still doesnt explain the time travel and that fate has alot to do with the show. I still think that Ben is still in control and is using Locke to get what ever it is he wants.
Seems like the Island has numerous levels of this. The Pearl watching the Swan. Within the Hydra watching the Hydra. The Flame watching it all. And one would have to suspect some place in the Barracks that you could watch from as well.
This concept also reminds me of the show The Prisoner. There’s a lot of viewing, observed and unobserved there.
I also wonder if the Island under Ben’s leadership managed to end the remote viewing with whatever was protecting the Island from discovery. And they also had the ability to know what was going on in the outside world as witnessed by Tom’s visit to Michael and the recruitment of Juliet so that potentially the situation was reversed and those in the prison were the ones doing the watching.
there’s already been extensive research on Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon (made popular by Michel Foucault) since season 2. Here’s one of them:
http://www.loststudies.com/1.2/discipline.html
The namesake of Jeremy Bentham is more suited in the transition of season 4 to season 5 due to his ideal of utilitarianism. For a more in depth analysis, here’s a post i found online:
http://dangerousminorities.blogspot.com/2008/06/jigsaw-falling-into-place-lost-season-4_24.html
Double-blind
what about the Island being the center watching the world, making the Ohters sort of like the illuminiti or some sort of secret group of people that rule the world observe it and make changes to the world to keep it in balance.
Nice debut article and research! So far I vote for the DI being the watchers. For one thing, the urgent and serious (to them) level of secrecy that they were trying to maintain would require constantly keeping tabs on people, to make sure that there wouldn’t be any unwanted cross communication. The closed-circuit cameras in the stations would be the biggest push for me toward this thought.
True, this Panopticon idea didn’t just come to light with the OGR, and has been discusses for while now, most agressively since Jack’s obit scrap was revealed. Here’s another take on it:
http://capcomslost.blogspot.com/2007/09/island-panopticon.html
Of course, there is also the possiblity that Mrs. Hawking and her time Fixers are the ultimate watchers in a universal panopticon. TPTB could be hinting at mulitple levels of watchers even.
if it hasn’t been noted already, it might be interesting to note that the theme of the panopticon is taken up my the french philosopher/historian foucault in his book ‘discipline and punish.’ the short version without getting too technical is this… what works about a panoptic prison is that the guard at the center is out of view of the prisoners, so the prisoners behave because they believe they are being watched. ultimately, the prison design is about training prisoners to self-regulate their actions because they cannot confirm that they aren’t being observed. this fits in perfectly with the Lost ecology. panopticism, as it is called in academic circles now applies broadly to society and not just the prison model… when you see one of those radar displays that tells you your speed you slow down, cause you don’t kwow whether there’s someone behind the radar gun to catch you…
Thanks for this great information. Most of all i agree with what you are saying, so please keep the good posts up and I
I appreciate the creative application of Bentham and Foucault to contemporary entertainment media- adds a stimulating dimension of thought to pop-media that is all-too-often absent from discussion!
That being said, your comparison neglected to mention one crucial aspect of the Panopticon: isolationism on the micro-scale. On the island, the passengers are separated from the rest of the world, but still have contact with one another. In the Panopticon however, the residents are isolated from one another with no means of communication at any point.
The island situation is definitely one of asymmetrical surveillance, but aside from that and the fact that the LOST cast lives on the periphery of the environment, there isn’t a strong relation between the two models.