Managing Mr. Monk: Control and the Politics of Madness

摘要

The television show Monk, featuring a protagonist who suffers from a serious mental illness, has been singled out for praise by advocacy organizations for its progressive representations of mental illness. Instead of taking the positive reception of Monk at face value, I query the procedures of power that inhabit these anti-stigma discourses and their accompanying media representations. I situate Monk in the context of recent changes in the politics of madness which are part of the contemporary “control society.” Drawing from the conceptual repertoires of Foucault, Deleuze, and others, I contend that Monk's “positive” representations must be read cautiously as discourses that embrace techniques of government—cloaked in the language of freedom—which constitute more subtle exercises of state power. I engage both a close analysis of the show's typical content and an interrogation of the show's broader discursive context, including the show's website and audience forums.