We're pretty close to the society in Feed: and I see that as a problem.
We currently live in a digitally divided society. It is a fact that those who use evolving technology will continue to get ahead, while those without access to (or the ability to upgrade) either skills or equipment will fall further and further behind. That means that not everyone can fully take part in a society focused on technology. This society excludes people who don't own or use computers; this society excludes people who may lose television signal due to the HD conversion.
Now remember how Violet's father - too poor and too proud to purchase top of the line equipment for himself - is shut out of both society and a potential job by the lack of a feed. In his effort to make sure this does not happen to his daughter, he has to literally buy into the culture and purchase the feed. However, what he can afford just isn't enough to give her a better opportunity - and in fact the defective feed kills her. Who gets top-of-the-line equipment? Kids like Titus, whose parents can afford the best. Who gets shoddy equipment and inadequate care? Kids like Violet, whose single parent just can't afford better. This is one vision of a future in which the thorny socioeconomic issues have remained intact.
I'd have to say that our present systems are a precursor of this kind of society, simply because we're monitored in so many ways for so many things (ATM purchases, EZ Pass, cookies, etc.). Some of the snail mail and spam we receive has definitely been geared towards our continued consumption of some goods and a siren's call towards other, newer items. Combine this with the need for constant entertainment, information, and just plain noise, and how far are we from direct access? I often joked while working in education that it would be far easier to bar code kids and 'swipe' them on and off buses, not to mention in and out of classes, for attendance purposes. No more kids left sleeping on school buses; no more cutting class. So when they started putting microchips into pets so they'd be easier to find, I realized we were at a place as a society where some of us could be convinced that this was a good idea for children. Scary.
All of this strikes me. I don't want to be all doom and gloom here, but wasn't that the intention of the book? Look at how far Titus' peers are from what we'd consider humanity; who aside from Titus changes? If a society can unquestioningly accept the sudden & mass appearance of mysterious lesions and make them fashion statements, how might they accept even worse physical, social, and environmental conditions? Really, the question becomes, how many Violets will this society have to produce in order for the majority of people to realize there is a problem? And what if they never realize - are the few Tituses among them enough to change the balance of the equation for the better? I'm not all that optimistic!
Showing posts with label Feed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Feed. Show all posts
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Don't Feed Me
Spoiler alert: I read the first 150, then Evelyn-Wooded to the end. And there are some things I hope I never see. So, skip the next paragraph if you don’t want details.
*
As someone who’s been to an actual farm, the graphic images of the futuristic ‘farm’ were especially off-putting. I give credit to Anderson, though, for creating a universe so realistic that it sickens. And in fact that may be his point – the farm, the lesions, the graphic nature of Violet’s debilitating illness– all depictions of a sickened and sickening society.
Also, Titus’ reaction to Violet’s wish list and descent is predictable behavior even now for a teen unused to coping with reality, hooked on fun and consumerism. Anderson gets all of this right – the self-centeredness, probably driven into hyperdrive by the consumer culture – and then makes us believe in Titus’ transition, his growth in the novel due to his innate ‘otherness’ and because of what he eventually learns during his disconnect from the feed and his interaction with Violet. Nicely done.
*
I think we’re seeing quite a bit of what Anderson describes here. Sure, we’re a long way from visiting the moon and finding it boring, but we’re being sold to, daily, with or without the feed. From politics to pop-tarts, we’re bombarded with sales pitches and monitored for consumer behavior. Often, we’re pushed and prodded and shaped into wanting the things and people that make up consumer culture. We’re branded: Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts? Coke or Pepsi? What we buy becomes who we are – and if we’re not buying it, or buying into it, we become disconnected – ‘out of touch’ – from society. Jacking us into the feed – like Johnny Mnemonic – is a perfect way for advertisers and corporations to achieve direct sales perfection. But it comes at a cost.
This is not desirable, even now, to me. While I tend to enjoy reading and seeing dystopian visions of the future, the point of these stories is to scare us out of the complacency that would allow such futures. The fact that everyone from Philip K. Dick to Anderson to William Gibson to Jack Womack is pointing that our future is one that is corporate-owned should give people more than food for thought.
By the way: this book, with its language and young protagonist, reminded me of Womack’s brilliant Random Acts of Senseless Violence. Sure, I have to laugh because he turns my native Long Island into a toxic disaster area, home to mutants – but his descriptions of what happens when a family loses its economic footing in New York, the subsequent disintegration of the American government, and the corporate takeover that follows is eerily relevant these days. Feed fits nicely into this bleak picture.
*
As someone who’s been to an actual farm, the graphic images of the futuristic ‘farm’ were especially off-putting. I give credit to Anderson, though, for creating a universe so realistic that it sickens. And in fact that may be his point – the farm, the lesions, the graphic nature of Violet’s debilitating illness– all depictions of a sickened and sickening society.
Also, Titus’ reaction to Violet’s wish list and descent is predictable behavior even now for a teen unused to coping with reality, hooked on fun and consumerism. Anderson gets all of this right – the self-centeredness, probably driven into hyperdrive by the consumer culture – and then makes us believe in Titus’ transition, his growth in the novel due to his innate ‘otherness’ and because of what he eventually learns during his disconnect from the feed and his interaction with Violet. Nicely done.
*
I think we’re seeing quite a bit of what Anderson describes here. Sure, we’re a long way from visiting the moon and finding it boring, but we’re being sold to, daily, with or without the feed. From politics to pop-tarts, we’re bombarded with sales pitches and monitored for consumer behavior. Often, we’re pushed and prodded and shaped into wanting the things and people that make up consumer culture. We’re branded: Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts? Coke or Pepsi? What we buy becomes who we are – and if we’re not buying it, or buying into it, we become disconnected – ‘out of touch’ – from society. Jacking us into the feed – like Johnny Mnemonic – is a perfect way for advertisers and corporations to achieve direct sales perfection. But it comes at a cost.
This is not desirable, even now, to me. While I tend to enjoy reading and seeing dystopian visions of the future, the point of these stories is to scare us out of the complacency that would allow such futures. The fact that everyone from Philip K. Dick to Anderson to William Gibson to Jack Womack is pointing that our future is one that is corporate-owned should give people more than food for thought.
By the way: this book, with its language and young protagonist, reminded me of Womack’s brilliant Random Acts of Senseless Violence. Sure, I have to laugh because he turns my native Long Island into a toxic disaster area, home to mutants – but his descriptions of what happens when a family loses its economic footing in New York, the subsequent disintegration of the American government, and the corporate takeover that follows is eerily relevant these days. Feed fits nicely into this bleak picture.
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