Video surveillance produces images. In Hollywood films like "Enemy of the State" or "The Truman Show," the cameras themselves become part of the image. The Police song "Every Breath You Take" can be interpreted as an anthem for security fetishists, and Michel Foucault's concept of the "panoptic society" must be rethought in light of technological advancements. This cultural studies examination of video surveillance and its media representations spans from 1667, when "Sun King" Louis XIV centralized street lighting, to the present day, where facial recognition systems are intended to fish out offenders from the crowd, civil rights activists call for monitoring the monitors, and passersby perform false theater in front of real video cameras.