Analysis Of Foucault's 'The Entire History Of You'

Foucault describes this power as a branch of technology. In “The Entire History of You” the technology is eerily close to where we are now. In fact, a recordable contact lens in being developed as we speak. Facebook has recently created a new feature in which you can go live, this means you can record, upload and receive comments, likes, or dislikes all in real time. You can then go back and re-watch your live broadcast as much as you’d like. This feature shows you at exactly what moment people reacted to your video. The grain in Black Mirror resembles a mixture of the recordable contact lens and Facebook’s new live feature. The difference lies in the fact that the grain does not require any sort of external technology. Many characters are

These shifts increased production of goods as well as lengthened the lifespan of individuals. But with each step towards modernization the individual loses power while the government gains power in both public and private spheres of our lives. Police use these grains as a way to police citizens. In one scene Liam arrives at the train station and must go through TSA. As he walks through the metal detector he is asked to replay his last week. To Foucault, this would be considered unknown surveillance, an increasingly popular tactic for law enforcement. The notion that we are always being watched is not new. In fact, it existed before 1984 and Big Brother. Its origins are unknown, but were most likely created by religious leaders in an attempt to enforce rules amongst communities. If a person thinks they are always being watched they are more likely to avoid committing crimes. The grain allows police access to all your memories from your daily walks to work to private intimate moments shared with your partner. For Foucault, implanting something like the grain in citizens would evolve power into a subtle yet authoritative

The theory begins with a vivid description of the public torture of Robert- François Damiens who was convicted of attempted regicide in the mid-18th century. Damiens was subject to execution via drawing and quartering, an English form of torture that involved strapping the victim to a wooden panel while ripping their body apart limb from limb. By the earth 19th century inmates were no longer publically tortured but instead forced to undergo a rigorous daily schedule. Foucault brings these ideas into question as a way to show the profoundly rapid changes in the western penal system. To Foucault, these changes occurred not as a way of humanizing inmates but as another form of subjection. He attempts to tie humans growing scientific knowledge with that of the technological development and growing prison development at the time. He argues that knowledge and power feed on one another, which is a rejection of the notion that the two are merely separate entities. For Foucault, one of the greatest punishments inflicted upon humans is the notion of identity and the way it can be used to control, regulate, and watch citizens. He argues that public torture was a theatrical production but was stopped after producing unwanted consequences. Torture must be carried out in a way that does not produce unwanted consequences, but achieves very specific purposes. Torture was