Lacan, Žižek i Foucault oglądają "Skazanego na śmierć"
Lacan, Žižek and Foucault Watch "Prison Break". (Psycho)analysis of a Series

Summary/Abstract: Why is “Prison Break” so popular? This essay attempts to answer the question by referring to the ideas of Michel Foucault and Slavoj Žižek’s philosophy of film. “Prison Break” is analyzed accordingly to the Žižek’s motto, that fiction is more real than reality. The acceptance of this premise allows the author to see the structure of the storyline of the series as an illustration of Lacanian mechanisms of the subconscious. The author also juxtaposes the psychoanalytic recognitions with the history of prison as described by Foucault in Discipline and Punish. In this context Prison Break is seen as a fantasy on the possibility of escape of an individual from a panoptic power structure to the impossible freedom. Kozłowski finds Lacanian and Foucaultian approaches to be complimentary. Thanks to them the cause of the popularity of the series are recognized both at a micro (mechanism ruling the subconscious) and macro level (mechanisms that govern culture).

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