Foucault Theory

Foucault’s concepts of power, discipline and governmentality are fundamental for understanding media and is a unique theory about media practises. Foucault demonstrates how reality TV is conducted and played out, such as the reality TV programme Big Brother. Big Brother expresses how surveillance is used to discipline citizens through the ‘public gaze’. Foucault’s approach to reality TV is distinguishable to alternative approaches, such as critical political economy. Political economy is the theory of how politics and the economy influence forms of media production, whereas Foucault’s theory is based on how citizens are disciplined through visibility and has no connection to the political economy (Hardy 2010). Foucault’s theory suggests that

Unlike other theories of power, Foucault (1998: 63) argues, “power is everywhere and comes from everywhere”, it is distributed throughout society and not held by the dominant class. He also states that power makes human beings who they are. Foucault’s theory is particular in that he doesn’t just viewed power negatively, but rather acknowledges it to be productive and a positive element that “produces reality” (Foucault 1991:194). These ideas contrast political economy, which suggests that the dominant class do hold power and influences the media. The idea of power producing reality reflects in the reality TV show Big Brother. Big Brother demonstrates how Foucault sees power as an everyday phenomenon, which produces reality. Big Brother is a show consisting of housemates who are everyday people living in the Big Brother house together. Big Brother produces the positive side to power that Foucault suggested, as watching over the housemates becomes a productive way to monitor their behaviour, without coercion. Foucault’s theory on discipline and disciplinary power hold a special quality. Foucault (1977: 201) contrasts other theorists stating that discipline can be produced through surveillance and “permanent visibility”, causing people to discipline themselves, with the absences of violence. He (Foucault 1977) suggests this can be used in prisons, schools and workplaces, through the idea

For Foucault (1991) disciplinary technologies are the techniques involved for producing obedient people. In reality TV disciplinary technologies are strongly shown through programmes such as Big Brother, Survivor and The Biggest Loser. Big Brother uses the techniques of surveillance and the public gaze to make the contestants feel visible and therefore disciplined. The show might slightly shape how citizens behave. As viewers watch and judge the contestants, they form an opinion on the type of person they would like to be in terms of wrong and right behaviour. This impacts citizens who watch Big Brother and allows them to form opinions on what types of behaviour is deemed acceptable and unacceptable by Big Brother and the public watching. However there are lots of people who view reality TV as ‘rubbish’ and refuse to watch it. Often these people have already formed opinions on the contestants of reality TV programmes, and view the contestants as ‘stupid’, ‘naïve’ and ‘attention seeking’ people for participating in reality TV and making the time to partake. These people have only watched reality TV a few times and are therefore only slightly shaped by it. They have viewed reality TV as ‘rubbish’ and so would never want to behaviour in the same way as contestants on reality TV programmes. This has shaped how those citizens behaviour, however they are not