Begineth
I think Ill take a flash-gordon-esque approach to this brief. This images are helpful, I will draw his prison, animals and Jeremy Bentham in a short while.
My Word!
People say allot of things, I say alot of things, YOU probably say alot of things.......Its probably normal. One may happen across thousands of doctorates, essays and books discussing anything from 'Sergeant Peppers lonely Hearts Club Band' to Harry Potter, Greek Democracy, Anthropology, Paleontology and Geophysics, Brain Science, Quantum Mechanics, Motor Mechanics, Social Policy, Theory of Surveillance and Collectible post-war kitchen wear. Im not putting these all these topics in the same box, I just making a point (not that I assume you do not realize, because I know you do, just trying to get to the point) that people can and will discuss, debate and write about ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING they can and want to. Kudos to the human I guess.
Similarly thousands of things can be said about any comic that "it means this" or "that" or perhaps that "it is a satire of blah-blah" and we could be here for a thousand years talking about it and then writing it all up. Needless to thay the human is an analytical creature, comics being one of the many many things they will analyse.
Comics are a combination of literature and pictures after all, (as are films actually) so there is ALOT to think about, alot to debate and alot to discuss!
But Im not going to do that. I will merely glance upon the tip of the ice berg. Thats it. Some say (for example) that Flash Gordon was based on a whole load of different things, some say its subversive while some say its racist and/or formulaic etc. Loads of different things can and are said. Perhaps what ever you think (just like with almost everything) entirely depends on your view or temperament. Then again perhaps not. Who really knows, perhaps we could ask the creators one day or perhaps its not worth it. Any way as far as Im concerned, its all about the Hawkmen, red clouds, the sound and flying golden hands.
However, without further ado, I present to you the purpose of this long-winded spiel of nonsense. Apparently here lies an unprecedented coincidence, perhaps one I can work with. Flash Gordon was allegedly based on Utilitarianism..... and so was Jeremy Bentham.
Hmmmmmmf?
Jeremy's Jailhouse
Theory of Surveillance: The PANOPTICON, a design was proposed as a model prison by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), a Utilitarian philosopher and theorist of British legal reform.
The Panopticon ("all-seeing") functioned as a round-the-clock surveillance machine. Its design ensured that no prisoner could ever see the 'inspector' who conducted surveillance from the privileged central location within the radial configuration. The prisoner could never know when he was being surveilled -- mental uncertainty that in itself would prove to be a crucial instrument of discipline.
READ MORE HERE!
The Panopticon ("all-seeing") functioned as a round-the-clock surveillance machine. Its design ensured that no prisoner could ever see the 'inspector' who conducted surveillance from the privileged central location within the radial configuration. The prisoner could never know when he was being surveilled -- mental uncertainty that in itself would prove to be a crucial instrument of discipline.
READ MORE HERE!
French philosopher Michel Foucault described the implications of 'Panopticism' in his 1975 work Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison --
"Hence the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power. So to arrange things that the surveillance is permanent in its effects, even if it is discontinuous in its action; that the perfection of power should tend to render its actual exercise unnecessary; that this architectural apparatus should be a machine for creating and sustaining a power relation independent of the person who exercises it; in short, that the inmates should be caught up in a power situation of which they are themselves the bearers. To achieve this, it is at once too much and too little that the prisoner should be constantly observed by an inspector: too little, for what matters is that he knows himself to be observed; too much, because he has no need in fact of being so. In view of this, Bentham laid down the principle that power should be visible and unverifiable. Visible: the inmate will constantly have before his eyes the tall outline of the central tower from which he is spied upon. Unverifiable: the inmate must never know whether he is being looked at at any one moment; but he must be sure that he may always be so. In order to make the presence or absence of the inspector unverifiable, so that the prisoners, in their cells, cannot even see a shadow, Bentham envisaged not only venetian blinds on the windows of the central observation hall, but, on the inside, partitions that intersected the hall at right angles and, in order to pass from one quarter to the other, not doors but zig-zag openings; for the slightest noise, a gleam of light, a brightness in a half-opened door would betray the presence of the guardian. The Panopticon is a machine for dissociating the see/being seen dyad: in the peripheric ring, one is totally seen, without ever seeing; in the central tower, one sees everything without ever being seen."
Biopic Project: My allocated peson is..... Jeremy Bentham, BEHOLD! Here is a summary
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), recognised philosopher was born in Spitalfields, London. He was something of a child prodigy, reading by the age of 2, learning Latin by 3 and by the age of 12 he was admitted to Queens College Oxford to study Law, he proved to become a widely respected figure by the 1820's. During his studies he became disillustioned with law, and rather than practiced it he wrote about it, offering critisism and improvement. He endorsed utalitatianism, the beleif in "greatest good for the greatest number" in other words pleasing the majority was priority. (A theory that is moraly questionable if the majority are sadematecistic facist extreamists and are pleased by opressing a minority?)
ANYWAY, Jeremy Bentham spent 40 years of his life living quietly in Wesminster producing between 10 to 20 sheets of manuscript a day well into his 80's writing essays about various social, political and religious theories creating many works that questioned and subverted the state of Law at his time, his writings are still centeral in academic debate today, cheifly regarding social policy.
Recognized as one of the earliest proponents of animal rights, he also spoke for a complete equality between sexes and was one of the earliest philosophers to argue for decriminalization of homosexuality and equal rights for homosexually inclined people. This is his last will and testiment and If someone tries to tell you Bentham helped create and found University College of London- UCL, (as he is often credited as being one of the founders) it is pure fantasy. However he was held in high esteem by the actual founders and if one was to visit the South Cloisters, one would find a wooden cabinet containing his preserved skeleton. One day his head, which was not preserved well…fell off. So they made a wax one and stuck his real head between his feet.
references: UCL Jeremy Bentham page and good old, not always up to scratch but none the less reliable wikipedia
And blah blah
My computers processing speed is skeptical and the memory is not remembering. I thus had to delete lots of things (RIP.) Hence buttery, lo-res, decorative memos.
A bit on the side
A slice on the side rather? Or is it more of a slab? Anyway this is a bit from another project I want to get going in the summer. Just loads of imaginary anatomy, a wee poke at how we can be convinced by imagery and an interest in reusing random bits of paper and random bits of meat.
Standard/Flag/Arms/Crest I
Illustration
The largest feature of this planet is the mid-ocean-ridge, at perhaps something like 65,000 km (40,400 mi) long while the total length of the system is 80,000 km (49,700 mi). Covering 80% of the ocean floor, with breadths of 500-4000 miles and heights of 1,500m (5,000 ft) though even at this height, it sits at around 6km under the ocean’s surface. This entry is to illustrate how the use of information in a different illustrative way can reveal something (like a feature) that can change our perspective on our environment and maybe our relationship with it. For example; habitually if I specifically wanted to imagine a massive/huge/big mountain rage/system (for example) for any particular reason, when I would have thought about the himalayas, perhaps now I might imagine colossal combinations of underwater ranges.
A bit more.....
More of this lovely book from the library; The Atlas of Shrinking Cities - Atlas der schrumpfenden Stadte.
HERALDRY: More of...
These are photographs of the pages of The 1922 publication from LAROUSSE: Dictioaire Universel en 2 volume.
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