Open    Access



Media and Peeping Tom Culture: Violating Familial Privacy and Communal Responsibility in the Evolution of Voyeurism



Author(s)

Golam Rabbani

Full-Text PDF XML     1022 Views

DOI:10.17265/2160-6579/2013.05.004

Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

In the name of visual pleasure, there are different entertainments in today’s media that instigate voyeurism among common viewers. In this study, the author intends to focus on two phases where the spectators are turning voyeurs without their consent. In the first phase, the study reveals the process where film influences voyeuristic behavior. The urge to explore others’ private matters starts through the way film reflects, reveals, and even plays on the straight, socially established interpretation of sexual difference which controls images, erotic ways of looking, and spectacle. Several voyeuristic means in films pursue set formation, and they all persuade the viewer to identify with the male character by allowing the viewer to see what he sees through different voyeuristic means. The use of devices as a telescope, magnifying glass, and keyholes is the motivation for the close-up shots. They turn the viewer into a participant and spectator and allow the viewer to look at previously unseen and hidden details, but they do not let the viewer become totally a part of the action. In this study, films like Peeping Tom and Sliver are analyzed to understand big screen voyeurism. In the second phase, this study presents the voyeurism initiated by television programs such as reality shows, “soap operas”, daytime television, talk shows, real life documentaries, and “docudramas”. At the pinnacle, there are the government, police, and the employers who are assisting to produce a new “watched” culture with the use of closed circuit TV devices. Some camera operators are known to have made “greatest hits” tapes and other material captured on CCTV has become the footage used to create television programs for entertainment purposes. Thus, they are influencing public voyeurism. Programs like “Big Daddy”, “Big Brother”, and “Big Boss” are disclosing personal activities of the characters through hidden cameras. They are considered as soft-core pornography on mainstream television and satellite channels.

voyeurism, Peeping Tom, reality shows, films and voyeurs, regular voyeur