Sixth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

The paper deconstructs the typography of Joe, the serial-killer, sociopath anti-hero in You (Tree et al , 2018), Netflix’s psychological thriller. The focus is on how the panopticon of a single individual is constructed through his connections with the typography. Our gaze is primarily fixed through the theoretical lenses of Marshall McLuhan and Henry Jenkins. Using their frameworks of convergence culture and typographic man, we will also interweave the Foucauldian idea of the panopticon. We attempt to read Joe’s self-sculpted personality through the books he reads and the act of book selling. At a subconscious level, he forges his personality approximating the fictional characters that fascinate him. Traumatized by the demons of his memories, Joe finds recourse in the typographic world and uses influences from pop culture world towards an identity-formation project. Apart from the tropes of books, we also investigate the all-pervasive phenomenon of social media, which an obsessive Joe manipulates, to control and dominate those around him. Our research questions are: How does the typographic nature of the modern world enable someone to construct a sense of self-reality, and a panopticon of one’s own? How does a typographic man deploy the instruments of power, and control the objects of his affections? Further, how does the Foucauldian structure of the panopticon function in synergy with the typographic world as envisioned by Henry Jenkins?