Constellations

Rockwell’s ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’, released in 1984, has enjoyed major chart success. Both the song and music video have a predominant paranoid tone and could present how someone would feel in a Panopticon structure, feeling like they were frequently being watched. The paranoid feeling is felt especially with the frequent repetition of the line ‘I always feel like somebody’s watching me’ sung by both Rockwell and Michael Jackson throughout the song. The song is, most notably, played at Halloween celebrations. This is most likely because the video also depicts a haunted house theme, in which we see imagery of objects such as floating heads, ravens and graveyards and this also further aids in creating a paranoid atmosphere.

The first verse begins with the line ‘I’m just an average man with an average life’ and this presents how surveillance is not just applicable to espionage and criminals but also affects the ‘average’ person in their daily life. There is an awareness that the reality of being ‘left alone’ is not a luxury that anyone can enjoy. This kind of surveillance of ordinary individuals was also a common theme in literature in the 20th century in response to communist regimes, such as the surveillance of civilians by East Germany’s Stasi. Many US government agencies were also developed in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the IRS (the Internal Revenue Service in America), which is referenced in the song. Someone may only be subject to IRS surveillance if they’re not paying taxes, for example, but it reveals a method by which ‘ordinary’ citizens can become the subjects of state surveillance. Along with the reference to the IRS, Rockwell also cites a representation of surveillance in popular culture. He references Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho by saying ‘showers remind […him of] Psycho too much’. An adaptation of the famous shower scene from the film is also depicted in the music video. The video reinforces the cultural trope of a stalker coming to murder someone in the shower. A generally simple task of showering becomes shrouded in paranoia. In particular, the reference to Psycho, a film made 24 years prior and in the Cold War, represents the longevity of fears of surveillance attributed to Communist regimes. Considering that surveillance has become even more intense, with the increase of hacking, data tracking and government surveillance of individuals in the 21st century, the song reveals that the Panopticon is something that has perpetual relevance.

Not only are the victims of the surveillance ‘ordinary’ but so are the perpetrators. Rockwell feels that his ‘neighbours’ or the ‘postman’ are watching. He not only feels entrapped by government agencies and cultural tropes becoming reality, but also feels that anybody in his vicinity could be watching him, intensifying the state of paranoia. The camera angle in the video frequently provides the audience with a first-person perspective of walking into and looking around his house. Therefore, the audience also becomes complicit in enforcing the Panopticon environment and adding to the paranoia felt by Rockwell. However, the hand-held camera shooting and the unstable nature of it can also make the viewer feel unstable. The synthesized voice in the beginning and at various points in the song that says ‘(who’s watching me?)’ adds to the disorientation felt in an environment where no one knows when they’re being watched or by who because it is hard to make out what or who the voice is. The voice is also not necessarily human and reinforces fears of technological surveillance like, phone tapping and CCTV.

This paranoid feeling in both the song and video can still be felt today. It is hard to know how many people are watching individuals and when. There are fears of data being stolen and people watching through webcams. Individuals live in a constant state of Panopticon because of the evolving surveilling capabilities of not only the state but an ‘average’ person watching other ‘average’ people from their homes. The song helps to reveal that the Panopticon in the lives of individuals is not just a circular prison with a central viewing point, but a place with multiple viewing points that turns society into a kind of prison that renders people unable to even carry out the most basic of activities like ‘enjoying […] tea’ or having a ‘shower’.