I really enjoy reading books that make me rethink what I originally thought I knew well about. This is exactly what many artists strive to do through various forms of art.
M.T. Anderson does this by highlighting in his book Feed how little people rebel against their comfortable lifestyles. Most of the characters in the book hardly question the Feed because it already provides everything they could ever want or desire with just a twitch in their brain.
Like we discussed in class, everyone gives into some kind of conformity and we consider an enlightened person to be someone who isn't afraid to be different no matter the circumstances.
It obvious how hard it is to be different without being judged, criticized and overall put down for not following the norm. I got from the book that independent thought comes with grave consequences, like when Violet was denied a loan for a surgery to fix her malfunctions because her shopping record didn't match the one of a typical teenager. A lot of norms are developed because a majority of common minded people agree that it works, disproving of anything that may threaten the stability.
It seems to me that people accept the life they choose to settle into too easily. What we're told and what we believe shouldn't always be the same.
Anderson was able to make this message more effective by using an realistic yet imaginative allegory readers can relate to easily, yet are also repulsed by.
He was able to twist a luxury the characters value greatly into something that destroys them. Titus is a empty-headed teenage boy who narrates the story and solely driven by trends and shopping and the avid pursuit of being consistently entertained.
Through his book, Anderson mocks the lifestyle people so naturally conform to, and what others who don't have, strive to achieve. But because of this, readers are forced to rethink their own priorities and can't help but compare their lives to those of the characters. In this, I want what ever my art becomes, to create something that embodies truth but also creative original thought as well.
I want my art to be both a mirror and a hammer. I want to reflect life in art as a way to capture it and hold onto it forever. But I also want to shape and provoke thoughts for others through the art, by using a hammer that can drastically change what people see. To me, its important to appreciate what we have, yet challenge it at the same time, just like Anderson did.
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ReplyDeleteHi alicia
ReplyDeleteOne thing I liked about your post for homework 10 the kindle research was the fact that you made a prediction. Its something that was original and interesting to think about. I only wrote about cell phone use which is not what is once was. It’s impossible to find a phone these days that is just a phone not something else mixed in. another good thing about your posts was in your digital fast blog. It was a good idea for you to add how you were feeling around the first few weeks and then again a little later. You also talked about what you are planning to do which is a good idea.
I may be wrong but I think your main idea for the digital fast was that as much as we may not want to we could live without as much digital obsession. You showed that it is possible for us to break the hold these digital representational devices hold on us, a much more optimistic approach. In your blog post 12 on feed your main point of the similarities in our world and the feed world were very insightful. You brought up some specific examples and connections that I had not noticed, for example the comparison of feed’s personal profiles and “cookies.”
Your point in homework 11, your self-experiment, that we could break free seems unlike some of the things that I have heard mentioned. I get the feeling in and out of class that people feel we’ve reached the brink, we are at the precipice of a intellectual collapse, now I’m not staying this is true I think if the general population of people who believe this really thought about it they might become less adamant about their claim but it unfortunately seems to be the consensus. Also in your homework 13 you said “I got from the book that independent thought comes with grave consequences” I got a similar feeling as you. I can see where you are coming from. This is defiantly something M.T. Anderson was trying to get across to his readers.
I think one place you can expand is a part in homework 12, you mentioned violet’s comment on how the feeds are getting to know us better than ourselves, you said before what exactly it is about the feed that has gotten them to that point and similarities to out life however I think that you could have expanded on this by adding what you think on this. Are we really at that point already? And doesn’t it many ways help us?
Something In you make me think about is what will be in the future. Not what is going to happen to us as a people because we as a class have talked about this often, but what is the next thing or what will push us even more? Your fast experiment got me thinking what if I deleted my facebook? I don’t know if I could do it. Also when you mentioned the genius in itunes, and cookies on computers it got me to think deeper about what makes feed an allegory of today.
Thanks for the posts,
Evan