Panopticism & The Stanley Parable

Michael Foucault's "Panopticism" delves deep into the practices of discipline and its uses in many different cultures and time periods; whereas The Stanley Parable applies the ideas presented in “Panopticism” to one specific building and scenario, controlling the individual by isolation, control of emotions and work ethic through machinery. This is a more literal interpretation of the architecture which was inherently created without use of actual machinery to control but rather control by a director able to see each and every move made by the bottom-dwellers. The game was very interesting in that only when there was no command, no director to control the machinery of the operation, nor other individuals to be controlled that Stanley does emerge from his room seeking more. Thus emphasizing the point that the system of discipline must be continually enforced or the 'disciplined' will seek escape and freedom (after elementary school, middle school, high school, then college = control until brain stops growth).

 

 The play through of the game can be closely tied with existentialism and the game by Brizzi, Before the Law, one thing that I noticed about the direction given by the gatekeeper in Before the Law and the narrator of The Stanley Parable was that the dialogue in-game lead you to believe there was only one option you must follow, however, players were not confined to a single option; providing elements of existentialism in the game. My first play through I did not listen when the narrator said Stanley chose the door on the left, instead I chose the door on the right to investigate my play space before circling back and entering through the left. However, similar to Before the Law, once you make the decision to not follow the rules you shatter them. In Before the Law breaking the rules and making your own choice lead to an alternate ending more rewarding to the player whereas The Stanley Parable presented the opposite. If you did not follow the on-screen instructions you were sentenced to death and the text differed making the player feel guilty and mistaken for his choice in direction, while following the in-game text lead the character to ultimate liberation and completion of the game; Before the Law was the opposite, choosing to listen to the gatekeeper in which this decision (or indecision rather) to stop and abide by the rules of the game creator/gatekeeper gets the player nowhere. Both games relate to the exercise of power within society forced upon the individual with an end-meaning that asserts the absence of one true law or code, and the realization that one must live by their own decisions, which compose the individual’s essence and identity.

~Andrew Arias