Imagining Surveillance: Utopian Visions and Surveillance Studies

Abstract

This paper considers the role of utopian (and dystopian) visions in the study of surveillance, arguing that the fiction in written or filmic form offers much that is stimulating to surveillance studies. The article focuses on four recent examples of such texts: The Truman Show, Gattaca, Code 46 and The Traveller. It argues that all present differing visions that move far beyond the nightmare of George Orwell (or indeed Michel Foucault) to present a more nuanced view.

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