Analysis #4 Does NCIS - Foucault Force

Where a Panoptical structure is normally in a circle with an observation tower in the center surrounded by an outer wall of cells for the incarceration of mental patients or convicts, for seven seasons at the center of NCIS is Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and his agents and their team that seem incarcerated, as they seem to be confined to their jobs 24/7 as they investigate crimes involving Navy and Marine Corps personnel. If the central idea to Foucault’s Panopticism is the systematic ordering and controlling of humans through subtle and often unseen forces then Agent Jethro Gibbs is a picture of Foucault Force when in his "office" - acubicle with his team at hand, surrounded "cells” consisting of labs, offices, a morgue . . . there is one notable exception.

NCIS - 'Hit The Head' Montage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqMUuOPsa0o
I spent VERY MUCH time trying to embed this video to prove my exception, but have given up :(

While the purpose of the panoptic design is to increase the security through the effectiveness of outward surveillance and not only do the story lines revolve around Gibbs and his team like Foucault’s Panopticism, everything is visible to their audiences (which revolve around them as well). It’s from this core that all the surrounding cells are visible, each valuable member is kept under observation and all the ensuing action is generated from the core as well. While Gibbs and a part of his team have freedom to come and go just as a guard would in a panoptic prison, many of the team is confined to “cells” consisting of labs, offices, a morgue . . . The inmates are not convicts, and there is no danger of a plot or an attempt at collective escape, but there is at times the danger of contagion, risk of their committing violence on one another these “prisoners” seem to like it there. I like them there too :)

Although they are not always a model of Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon of a self-disciplined society, the NCIS core often behaves like schoolchildren, with copying, noise, play and pranks. However, advances in technology and surveillance techniques have made Foucault’s theories all the more pertinent to NCIS and its population – millions of fan.