Big Brother Is Watching

What it is

Surveillance technology is used by those in power to control, manipulate, or oppress people. The story presents a tension between security and freedom, concluding that surveillance is more dangerous than the threats it claims to prevent.

How to spot it

The plot contains ALL of: (1) a surveillance system, monitoring apparatus, or data-collection program, (2) the system is used or could be used for control rather than just protection, (3) characters must evade or confront the surveillance to act freely.

• A government, corporation, or powerful entity monitors people pervasively
• Characters discover they are being watched or tracked
• A security-vs-freedom debate occurs explicitly or implicitly
• The surveillance is presented as more threatening than the external danger
• A protagonist must go off-grid, destroy the system, or expose it

Classic examples

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Project Insight), The Dark Knight (Batman's surveillance system), 1984, Minority Report, Black Mirror "Nosedive", Enemy of the State # ============================================================================ # CATEGORY B — NATURE & ENVIRONMENT # ============================================================================