Surveillance as a Topic of Study in the Work of E. Lockhart and Cory Doctorow

Abstract

Surveillance technologies are proliferating at an astonishing rate powered by practices that normalize surveillance. Children and young adults are especially prone to being surveilled since few people challenge the idea that protecting young people is a valuable goal. Yet, both E. Lockhart in The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks (2008) and Cory Doctorow in Little Brother (2008a) demonstrate that, for young adults on the cusp of independence, recognizing the costs of surveillance and developing the skills to manage surveillance is a crucial skill. Lockhart showcases Frankie’s progress as she shifts from using surveillance to gain personal power to understanding she can enact real change by challenging the gendered assumptions of the panopticon and adopting transparency about her goals. Doctorow’s protagonist advocates for young people to become better practitioners of technology in order to assert agency over the ways they are surveilled. Both authors use their protagonists to demonstrate the importance of resisting the promised comforts of protective and patriarchal surveillance as a necessary step in establishing a balance between the independent self and the society in which one participates.