Zongkor Xiong 1/31/14 Film 20C Discussion Friday 9:30am-10:30am Assignment 2 A Watchful Eye From Above One of the

e artworks that I have found very intriguing is the picture of a surveillance camera in lecture notes. Of course this one picture alone represents very little when we look at it. However, if we go into detail with just this picture of the surveillance camera we begin to understand what it means and what power it holds by itself. Personally, looking at this picture I thought of it as a simple piece of work angled at a position to capture an image of what surveillance is. After looking into this piece a little bit more I begin to understand its effects and what it does a little more clearly. When I think of hardware I usually think of the mechanics or tool that was used to produce something else. A code, however, is thought of as a message that has to be portrayed. In the picture with the three surveillance camera, one can say that this picture is obviously produced by a camera angle at a position where it could capture all three cameras angling at every direction. The message that this picture tell the viewer is that we are being watch from all sides, since the picture capture by the camera depicts the three cameras angling their position at different places. In other words, an act of discipline is put on for precautions as we are being watch under a watchful eye. To the audience, this piece of art is usually missed since it doesnt strike out to the eye of someone as appealing as a piece of artwork like the Mona Lisa. If someone was to be shown this picture of surveillance camera they wouldnt understand the point of the picture, and the picture itself becomes passively viewed. However, when we do understand what surveillance cameras represent, the audiences begin to get a sense of an interaction with the picture to understand the picture. The picture of the surveillance camera represents a discipline society where we are kept watched by someone that we dont know. Not knowing who is watching our every move we take precautions of discipline in order to keep our safety. Discipline is the practice of obeying rules or code, and it is something that have always been part of societies for over generations. As people we tend to forget about who is watching us when we are obeying the rules and codes. However, we change or passive views once we begin to disobey these rules and code, and begin to become more interactive with who is watching us. Wendy Hui Kyong Chun in her excerpt of Control and Freedom, discuss about the ideas of disciplinary society versus a control society. Interestingly Wendy Hui Kyong Chun brings to mind the question if we, as the audience, wants to be kept discipline by others or do we want to be in a control society where we can freely explore.