The Pornocratic Body in the Age of Networked Paranoia

The age of Big Data produces a both cultural paranoia—the sense that the surveillance apparatus sees anybody and everything—and the fear that individual bodies become insignificant or interchangeable to the public. This fear affects political figures like Donald Trump whose public bodies help secure...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cultural critique 2018-07, Vol.100 (1), p.134-156
Main Author: Amiran, Eyal
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Data mining
Digital media
Enlightenment
Paranoia
Political power
Positivism
Surveillance
Visibility
Women
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The age of Big Data produces a both cultural paranoia—the sense that the surveillance apparatus sees anybody and everything—and the fear that individual bodies become insignificant or interchangeable to the public. This fear affects political figures like Donald Trump whose public bodies help secure political power under pornocracy. This essay explains the cultural paranoia produced by the scopic regime by reading South Park’s “Magic Bush” episode, the case of the disappeared Malaysia Airlines MH370 airplane, and the depiction of bodies in Wikileaks’ leaked video, “Collateral Murder” (2007). It then reads two instances where pornocratic bodies struggle to gain visibility against the indifference of the surveillance apparatus: leaked surveillance tapes of conversations between the British royalty Princess Diana and Prince Charles and their lovers.
ISSN:0882-4371
1460-2458
1534-5203
1460-2458
DOI:10.1353/cul.2018.a706917