"This is a disease called serenity: A form of death that people have wished for": Foucauldian themes in anime 'Psycho-Pass'

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to use as an example the first season of the anime Psycho-Pass, based on a story written by Urobuchi GEN, and directed by Shiotani Naoyoshi and Motohiro Katsuyuki, and analyze it using Michel Foucault's studies regarding his themes of panopticism and resistance. The framework upon which the analysis is based consists of Michel Foucault's studies, primarily his study Discipline and Punish: The Birth of Prison originally published in 1975, as well as his essays on resistance and anti-authority struggles. The paper aims to show how the anime uses notions presented by Foucault in creating its concept of the Sybil System, an embodiment of the Panopticon, and how it maintains control over the people. The paper also aims to analyze characters from the anime, and how their actions can be perceived as ways of resisting against an oppressive, omnipresent system within the society. Hopefully, this paper will provide another way of using Foucault's well-known concepts, in this instance, for an analysis of a Japanese anime.

Keywords

• anime
• michel foucault
• panopticism
• 'psycho-pass'
• resistance