Power is an important aspect of life that should not be neglected nor assumed in our society. It is therefore essential for every individual to understand how power operates, its methods and goals. Most of the knowledge from power comes from knowledge that is distributed from higher above. In Berger’s essay “Ways of Seeing” he is very analytical when speaking about power, while also linking power to art and saying that “the entire art of past has now become a political issue”. This also coincides with Foucault’s essay “Panopticism” which he speaks about the Panoptican and the system of powers involved within it. Even though both writers have come up with different overview on the topic of power, they also have similarities on who has it, how
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Berger touches upon this when he says “Perspective makes the single eye the center of the visible world. Everything converges on to the eye as to the vanishing point of infinity.” What Berger means by this is it is a focal point perspective, and it’s what the artists want the viewers to see. The arrangement has involvement with hierarchy, and also relates to Foucault and the surveillance system in the Panopticon. This surveillance is based on a system of permanent registration: reports from the syndics to the intendants, from the intendants to the magistrates or mayor (Foucault 2). The syndics are the ones who keep the lowest in check, and let the higher ones know how they’re cooperating. It’s like a chain of command for the authority, and they have the lowest class doing the dirty work while the highest person is just giving the order. In their essays you can identify how the systems of power work and …show more content…
He who is subjected to a field of visibility and who knows it is, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power (Foucault 7). Foucault states this in his essay, and he means the assignment of roles. This assigns roles to the oppressor and the oppressed, the oppressor who is granted exclusive visibility to the oppressed and can react to what’s going on as he sees fits. While the oppressed never has any idea of what the oppressor is doing, or how he should even react to what is going on. The oppressed has no control, while the oppressor has all the control. Berger can connect with this when he says “The way we see things is affected by what we know or believe”. The elaboration on this is how the higher power have the power to control our knowledge and what is given to us. As a result of this we know what we are able to know because of them monitoring and censoring what they don’t want us to know. An example of this from Berger would be when he speaks about the paintings and we see it as replicas, we don’t see the original paintings. We are held back from seeing it because the higher power put a barrier in between us. Both Berger and Foucault talk about how the oppressors are the tyrants, and they are in full command of the
Berger touches upon this when he says “Perspective makes the single eye the center of the visible world. Everything converges on to the eye as to the vanishing point of infinity.” What Berger means by this is it is a focal point perspective, and it’s what the artists want the viewers to see. The arrangement has involvement with hierarchy, and also relates to Foucault and the surveillance system in the Panopticon. This surveillance is based on a system of permanent registration: reports from the syndics to the intendants, from the intendants to the magistrates or mayor (Foucault 2). The syndics are the ones who keep the lowest in check, and let the higher ones know how they’re cooperating. It’s like a chain of command for the authority, and they have the lowest class doing the dirty work while the highest person is just giving the order. In their essays you can identify how the systems of power work and …show more content…
He who is subjected to a field of visibility and who knows it is, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power (Foucault 7). Foucault states this in his essay, and he means the assignment of roles. This assigns roles to the oppressor and the oppressed, the oppressor who is granted exclusive visibility to the oppressed and can react to what’s going on as he sees fits. While the oppressed never has any idea of what the oppressor is doing, or how he should even react to what is going on. The oppressed has no control, while the oppressor has all the control. Berger can connect with this when he says “The way we see things is affected by what we know or believe”. The elaboration on this is how the higher power have the power to control our knowledge and what is given to us. As a result of this we know what we are able to know because of them monitoring and censoring what they don’t want us to know. An example of this from Berger would be when he speaks about the paintings and we see it as replicas, we don’t see the original paintings. We are held back from seeing it because the higher power put a barrier in between us. Both Berger and Foucault talk about how the oppressors are the tyrants, and they are in full command of the