The Superfluousness of Big Brother
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English Fall 12-16-2019 The Superfluousness of Big Brother: Charting the Evolution of Surveillance in Twentieth and Twenty First Century American and Global Anglophone Literature and Television Ryan Pine Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Recommended Citation Pine, Ryan, "The Superfluousness of Big Brother: Charting the Evolution of Surveillance in Twentieth and Twenty First Century American and Global Anglophone Literature and Television." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2019. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/228 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE SUPERFLUOUSNESS OF BIG BROTHER: CHARTING THE EVOLUTION OF SURVEILLANCE IN TWENTIETH AND TWENTY FIRST CENTURY AMERICAN AND GLOBAL ANGLOPHONE LITERATURE AND TELEVISION by RYAN EDWARD PINE Under the Direction of Chris Kocela, PhD ABSTRACT This dissertation charts the evolution of surveillance as presented in twentieth and twenty-first century American and Global Anglophone literature and television. It analyzes six exemplary works: 1984, The Circle, Black Mirror, Purity, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and The Lowland. It seeks to move beyond the scope of Benthamite and Foucauldian approaches to surveillance studies in order to examine the post-panoptic structures of the synopticon and the banopticon. To this end, this dissertation argues the six illustrative works mentioned above help underscore the shift from the few watching the many to the many watching the few. It seeks to explain the paradox whereby the televisual capabilities have never been more powerful yet the need for them has been rendered superfluous by an attitudinal, paradigmatic shift in western society. Finally, this dissertation endeavors to explain how literature productively complicates the issue of watching and how, paradoxically, we have never been better connected while simultaneously never been more alone. It posits another paradox as a solution: that we can know someone better by reading their words than by connecting with them through “social media.” INDEX WORDS: Surveillance, Panopticon, Synopticon, Banopticon, Social media THE SUPERFLUOUSNESS OF BIG BROTHER: CHARTING THE EVOLUTION OF SURVEILLANCE IN TWENTIETH AND TWENTY FIRST CENTURY AMERICAN AND GLOBAL ANGLOPHONE LITERATURE AND TELEVISION by RYAN EDWARD PINE A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2019 Copyright by Ryan Edward Pine 2019 THE SUPERFLUOUSNESS OF BIG BROTHER: CHARTING THE EVOLUTION OF SURVEILLANCE IN TWENTIETH AND TWENTY FIRST CENTURY AMERICAN AND GLOBAL ANGLOPHONE LITERATURE AND TELEVISION by RYAN EDWARD PINE Committee Chair: Chris Kocela Committee: Chris Kocela Pearl McHaney Jay Rajiva Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University December 2019 iv DEDICATION This is for Erika, obviously. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge my parents. I literally wouldn’t be here without you. But, also, I wouldn’t be here without your love and encouragement. Thank you. I’d also like to acknowledge Dr. Stephen Smith of La Salle University: you kick-started this journey six years ago when you accepted me into the master’s program. You didn’t have to. You took a chance. I hope this dissertation serves as a small piece of evidence that you made the right decision. In that same vein, I’d like to thank my mentor, Dr. James Jesson, also of La Salle University. Although I’m forcing you to read more Eggers, I hope you’re happy your careful mentorship has paid dividends. Your generosity of time and spirit always astounds me. Thank you. There are far too many people at Georgia State University to thank, but I’d be remiss not to mention a few. Dr. Calvin Thomas also took a chance by accepting me into the PhD program. Thank you. Dr. Angela Christie kept me in the program with her compassion and some administrative gymnastics. Thank you. Drs. Pearl McHaney and Jay Rajiva came to this project at the eleventh hour and saved it. They didn’t have to do that. Their cognitive intelligence and emotional intelligence have proven invaluable to this dissertation. Thank you. To Dr. Chris Kocela, you know how I feel about you, but, just in case more than four people read this, you should know you simply won’t find a kinder person working in academe, a more astute and careful reader, a more thoughtful human being, or better friend and mentor. If you are a young person (or any age for that matter) you should be looking to Chris Kocela as a teacher, scholar, and person to emulate. He’s everything this field should be. He taught me a lot about vi postmodernism and historiographic metafiction, but the greatest lesson I’ll take away from him is how to treat other human beings with kindness. Speaking of the field, I’ve been blessed to be supported by two brothers-in-arms, soon-to- be doctors Joshua Privett and Jay Shelat. Your unwavering support of me when I felt I wasn’t good enough, smart enough, or deserving enough has made all the difference. I won’t be able to repay the debt I owe, but I’ll try to live up to the high standards you’ve set for scholarship and friendship. To my family, I don’t know if this gamble I’ve taken will pay off, but I know what you’ve already taught me through your unconditional love: it doesn’t matter. I’d also like to acknowledge the hundreds of students I’ve been fortunate enough to work with and learn from over the past twelve years. You’ve inspired me. You’ve surprised me. You’ve infuriated me, too. But you’ve helped shape this conversation. It’s you I’m writing this for; it’s you I’m fighting for. And, finally, thank you to Erika, without whom nothing is possible. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ V 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 2 CHAPTER ONE: NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR AND THE CIRCLE— THE NEW BIG BROTHER IS US. .................................................................................................. 16 2.1 Introduction: ............................................................................................................... 16 2.2 Spaces for resistance: ................................................................................................. 35 3 CHAPTER TWO: BLACK MIRROR AND THE MIRROR STAGE: A LACANIAN AND DRAMATURGICAL ANALYSIS OF SURVEILLANCE IN THE NETFLIX TV SERIES AND JONATHAN FRANZEN’S NOVEL, PURITY ............................. 77 3.1 Introduction: ............................................................................................................... 77 3.2 Synopses and analyses: .............................................................................................. 81 3.3 The Mirror Stage and the stage: ............................................................................... 95 3.4 The Digital Extended Self: ...................................................................................... 101 3.5 Sharing is caring: ..................................................................................................... 118 3.6 Go For What Hurts: ................................................................................................ 135 4 CHAPTER THREE: RESISTING THE BANOPTICON: SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM AND CRITICAL REVOLUTIONARY PEDAGOGY IN MOHSIN HAMID’S THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST AND JHUMPA LAHIRI’S THE LOWLAND............................................................................................................ 139 4.1 Introduction: ............................................................................................................. 139 viii 4.2 The banopticon: ........................................................................................................ 148 4.3 Fuel for the banoptic engine: surveillance capitalism .......................................... 152 4.4 The United States of Exception: ............................................................................. 167 4.5 Marxism and the academy: Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland: ............................... 175 4.6 Critical revolutionary pedagogy: ............................................................................ 189 4.7 Conclusion: ............................................................................................................... 199 5 CONCLUSION: EVERYTHING LIVES WITH PAPER. ....................................... 204 WORKS CITED........................................................................................................................ 208 1 1 INTRODUCTION You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized. George Orwell, 1984 Surveillance, according to David Lyon, “refers to routine ways in which focused attention is paid to personal details by organizations that want to influence, manage, or control