This post is due by Tuesday, January 28 @ midnight for full credit.
Email late posts to rob.williamsATmadriver.com for partial credit.
1. Read FEED, books 3 and 4.
2. Describe FIVE specific media-related themes in FEED, using 3 sentences for each theme. Be sure to include a textual reference and page # as part of EACH description. (What does MT Anderson, the book's author, want us to think about?)
CONSUMERISM
ReplyDeleteWithin the Feed world, the characters are constantly being bombarded with advertisements, whether it be for hotels in close proximity, restaurants catered to their age, or institutions of entertainment based upon their previous interests. There is not a moment of peace that they have solely to themselves when they are connected to the Feed. Their world, which is a dystopia in all of its aspects, is centered on shallow values such as money, production, and sales as opposed to true interpersonal human connection.
EX: “The hotels were jumping on each other, and there was bumff from like the casinos and mud slides and gift shops and places where you could rent extra arms. I was trying to talk to Link, but I couldn’t because I was getting bannered so hard, and I kept blinking and trying to walk forward with my carry-on. I can’t hardly remember any of it. I just remember that everything in the banners looked goldy and sparkling, but as we walked down to the luggage, all the air vents were streaked with black.” (pg. 8)
AUTHORITY
The Feed itself, as well as the corporations behind it that control its distribution of information/advertisement. Titus and Violet struggle with feelings of ambivalence toward the Feed, and while Violet is the most human-like of the group, Titus also struggles with his feelings towards the program, for it is all he has ever truly known. Titus wants to be cool and be a normal part of the society in which he resides, but he also struggles with the newfound knowledge that he has the ability to construct independent thought and truly feel such as emotions as his love for Violet.
EX: “I stood there wondering what it was that made her so beautiful. She was looking at us like we were shit. Her spine. Maybe it was her spine. Maybe it wasn’t her face. Her spine was, I didm’t know the word. Her spine was like…? The feed suggested ‘supple.’” (pg. 14)
LANGUAGE
It seems as though the characters seem to say very little of importance, but in terms of numerical statistics, they say a great deal of words. The problem seems to be that there is no significant meaning or attachment behind the words other than the basics of functioning in daily life with the Feed. The slang only works further to emphasize that the sophistication of ‘ancient’ languages have been lost and the entirety of the world has become accustomed to speaking in plain terms often associated with teenagers in our modern 21st-century society.
EX: "I didn’t want to be sleepy and like all stupid, but I had been drinking pretty hard the night before and had been in mal and I was feeling kind of like shit. So it was not a good way to start this whole trip to the moon, with the seat thumping on Marty’s face, and him going, 'Unit, I’m trying to get my bird!’” (pg. 6)
DEPENDENCE
It becomes apparent very early in the book that all of the characters have some kind of dependency on the feed and do not know how to function without it. Once it is removed due to difficulties Titus and his friends experience, he finds that there is a world apart from the technology that he had never previously imagined. He only scratches the surface of the life he could have had and the depth of the emotions he could have experienced in a world separate from the feed.
EX: “Thinking of it like this, I started to not want to say anything. I kept thinking of nice things I could say, like, 'I’m glad you went out last night, because that’s how I met you,’ or ‘And I think you are a normal person.’ but they all seemed just smarm. So we just sat there, together, and we didn’t say anything. And it wasn’t bad. I hoped she could see my smile in the light of my brain. (pg. 54)
RETALIATION
ReplyDeleteThere are people within the Feed world that retaliate against using the feed, for they believe it is a destructive force that hinders any normalcy that could be contained within a simple human life. Although Titus and his friends want to appear cool and follow societal conventions, there are those that still see it as shallow and fake. These people retaliate and feel that the world in which they are living is falling apart.
EX: “‘We enter a time of calamity. Blood on tarmac. Fingers in the juicer. Towers of air frozen in the lunar wastes. Models dead on the runways, with their legs facing backward. Children with smiles that can’t be undone. Chicken shall rot in the aisles. See the pillars fall.’” (pg. 39)
(The author wants us to realize the importance and beauty within a world full of human imperfections, in which we interact in such a way that we feel powerful emotional connections with others, and to be wary of the possibility of losing such a wonderful thing to a reliance on technological communication, for the turmoil of such an event could hinder the true human experience for future generations to come forever.)
SUPERIORITY
ReplyDeleteViolet at one point in the book states that only 76% of Americans have the feed, but this is still a great majority. Titus also explains how people with the Feed are highly intelligent, as they can look up information on anything at any time. Not having the Feed is clearly something to be frowned upon in the setting of the novel, and certain parts of the book make it clear that not having the Feed is an enormous disadvantage.
Example – “I realized that they had chatted me, and that I had not responded. They found this funny. Risible. That a man would not have a feed. So they were chatting about me in my presence. Teasing me when I could not hear. Free to assess me as they would, right in front of me. I did not get the job.” (p. 288)
CONVERGENCE
In today’s culture, convergence is already very evident in the form of smart phones, as all types of media are suddenly converging into one medium. M.T. Anderson puts a spin on this in his novel, explaining that the Feed is connected into the human brain and becomes a part of the body’s most basic functions. Not only do TV shows, websites, news, music, and all other forms of media appear on the Feed, but the body itself converges with the Feed.
Examples – “’I have this dream that I’ll be able to learn to live without the feed. I wish they could just switch it off.’
‘Can’t they?’
‘Not dormant. Off. I mean, completely. They can’t right now. It replaces too many basic functions. It’s tied in to everything.’” (p. 262)
PROFILING
One of the most relevant features of the Feed is that it profiles its users. It monitors the music the user listens to, the products he or she buys, their general demographic. After it profiles the user, it bombards him or her with all sorts of messages on products that it believes will interest the user.
Example – “Maybe, Violet, if we check out some of the great bargains available to you through the feednet over the next six months, we might be able to create a consumer portrait of you that would interest our investment team. How ‘bout it, Violet Durn? Just us, you and me – girls together! Shop till you stop and drop!” (p. 247)
MEDIA INFLUENCE
The characters in FEED live their lives according to what the Feed tells them to do. Calista, Quendy, and Loga are obviously the most affected by the Feed, changing their hair and clothes more than once throughout the story because the Feed lets them what trends currently exist.; at one point, synthetic lesions even become popular amongst the girls. School in the FEED universe is even set up so that students are taught how to use the Feed (media) to its greatest efficiency.
Example – “’Yuh’ said Loga. ‘It’s Riot Gear. It’s retro. It’s beat up to look like one of the big twentieth-century riots. It’s been big since earlier this week.” (p. 159)
ADVERTISEMENTS
Multiple times throughout the book, advertisements appear, mostly weaved directly within Titus’s thought process. Whenever he is near something, several ads pop up telling him what is available, what is on sale, what is open, etc. The way that Anderson weaves the ads into the story is so the reader understands how the Feed works; no matter what is going on, no matter what a character is thinking, the Feed will suddenly pop up with messages and ads.
Example – “I didn’t know how I spent two hours, it was so awful and boring. I thought about anything else that I could. ‘You low?’ said a banner. ‘Not for long – not when you find out the savings you can enjoy at Weatherbee & Crotch’s Annual Blowout Summer Fashions Sale!’ It was a little embarrassing, but I did order a jersey. I did it really careful, in case she was tracking my feed.” (p. 274)
Digital Divide:
ReplyDeleteIn this futuristic society, everything evolves around the feed. Those who do not have a feed are separated from society, which causes a digital divide. They lack the constant flow of information and social interactions that everyone else is experiencing.
"No one with feeds thinks about it, she said. When you have the feed all your life, you're brought up to not think about things. Like them never telling you that it's a republic and not a democracy. It's something that makes me angry, what people don't know about these days. Because of the feed, we're raising a nation of idiots. Ignorant, self-centered idiots." (113)
Conformity:
Subconsciously, the people in Feed are becoming more and more similar to each other. This is because of the feed; advertisements are based on your interests, which eventually leads to subcategories of people. Individualism no longer exists, and you become a type.
"-They keep making everything more basic so it will appeal to everyone. And gradually, everyone gets used to everything being basic, so we get less and less varied as people, more simple" (97).
Technology :
The socialization in every culture and society structures the way we interact with each other. In the Feed world, everything is technologically based, everyone communicates through the feed. Even emotion is mediated through technology.
"So we just sat there, together, and we didn't say anything. And it wasn't bad. I hoped she could see my smile in the light of my brain" (54).
Dependency:
The characters cannot imagine their lives without their feed and are all addicted to it. Titus could not believe it when Violet told him she didn't get a feed until she was 7. When Titus disconnects from his feednet he feels scared, as if he does not know how to function without the dependence of his feed.
" I was currently disconnected from the feednet, of course, and I was starting to get scared...."(43).
Appearance:
Many of the female characters are constantly on their feed, checking to see what the latest trends are and fixing their hairstyles. In some ways, it seems like all they care about is how they look 24/7 and are very conscious as to when/what goes out of style.
“She and the girls spent the rest of the hours fixing Quendy’s hair to like showcase the lesion” (25).
Hypercommercialism/Advertising: In the world of the feed, it is impossible to escape advertisements, as they are sent automatically to a person’s feed even if the person just passes by an object. Advertisements are even pushed on people based on their feelings, which the feed can sense. “’You low?’ said a banner. ‘Not for long—not when you find out the savings you can enjoy at Weatherbee & Crotch’s Annual Blowout Summer Fashions Sale!’ It was a little embarrassing, but I did order a jersey” (274). Marketing manipulates feelings and emotions and works to make a profit by intruding on those times reserved for reflective introspection.
ReplyDeleteSurveillance: While the people with feeds are living their lives, the feed itself is keeping a record of all the things the person looks at or thinks about buying. Corporations use this information to make people “conform to one of their types for easy marketing” (97). All thoughts and impressions are observed and remembered by the feed and by extension the corporations that profit from the feed.
Digital Divide: For much of the beginning of the book, it seems as though everyone has a feed because the feed is such a driving force in society. However, Violet eventually reveals to Titus that “only about seventy-three percent of Americans have feeds” (112). This represents a very severe form of technological inequality, as those who do not have feeds have no ability to participate in society and are completely disconnected from those who have the power to shape society.
Convergence: The feed represents the coming together of all the different forms of media that we use today. Television, radio, computers, smartphones, and the internet are all melded together inside peoples’ brains. As Titus says after losing the use of his feed, “there was nothing that was about to happen or had just happened” (45). Because all forms of media are intertwined with each other and with the mind and body, if the feeds go down people don’t know what to do to occupy themselves.
Subjectivity: The media in Titus’s world focuses on the false need for consumer products, offering little coverage on the important issues like the riots, the environmental damage, and the causes of the lesions. As a consequence, the prevalence of the consumer culture makes people think that what matters the most is having the right clothes and hairstyles to fit in with the mainstream population. Instead of being able to think for themselves and be objective about media messages, people blindly follow trends, as evidenced by Quendy’s drastic surgery to cover her body in lesions. “…her whole skin was cut up with these artificial lesions. We were all just looking at her. They were all over her” (191). The media creates a biased reality about what is true that does not accurately reflect the reality of the entire population.
Convergence
ReplyDeleteAs extensive as convergence is in our everyday lives in this era, in the ‘Feed’ world that MT Anderson has created it is even more advanced and commonplace. Every medium that is available is available inside the characters’ heads (if they have the feed), 24/7. “My father took me to test-drive upcars on Saturday. I had tried a lot of them in the feedsim, but it’s not the same as actually driving them (120).” In this world, even the act of test-driving a car has been converged along with everything else, into the feed!
Technology Dependency
It’s obvious from the first page on that these characters have reached a very extreme state of dependency on the technology of the day, which is called their “feed”. “In fact, the thing that made me pissy was when they couldn’t help me at all, so I was just lying there, and couldn’t play any of the games on the feed, and couldn’t chat anyone, and I couldn’t do a fuckin’ thing except look at that stupid boat painting, which was even worse (49)”. The characters can’t seem to imagine a life without the constant feed technology that lives in their heads.
Advertising
Advertising is repeatedly interrupting our characters’ lives, and it’s in their feeds—essentially, in their heads—so it’s not escapable like print advertising is for us. “Are you tired of the same old shoulders? Why not try extensions? (154)” With the way advertising has saturated our world today, I think M.T. Anderson is trying to get us to think about the way it may be if it continues to blow up.
Media Pushing Conformity
This book is a huge example of the way corporations can benefit by pushing society into a sort of conformity, and the way media is used to achieve this. Violet explains this in what is probably my favorite passage in the book: “I mean, they do these demographic studies that divide everyone up into a few personality types, and then you get ads based on what you’re supposedly like. They try to figure out who you are, and to make you conform to one of their types for easy marketing. It’s like a spiral: They keep making everything more basic so it will appeal to everyone (97).” This is honestly quite terrifying and it’s not hard to imagine a future like this; the author is providing an example of where we may be heading and how detrimental this kind of thing can be to us as individuals.
Authority
“Now that School™ is run by the corporations, it’s pretty brag, because it teaches us how the world can be used, like mainly how to use our feeds (110).” The theme of corporations as an authority figure is extremely prevalent in FEED. For instance, it makes Titus feel uncomfortable when Violet questions the reality of democracy (as more of a republic) in their world; but it’s true, the feeds control the people, and the corporations control the feed, therefore the corporations act as the real authority.
Advertisement
ReplyDelete“The perky voice on her feed said, Hi! I’m Nina, your personal FeedTech shopping assistant! Tired of that gross-out smell in your mouth? Try FreshGorge Glottal Deodorant – your boyf will than you big-time!” (106)
This shows the theme of advertisement because it’s advertising through feed to Titus. This consistently happens because feed is bound to show and advertise things all the time based on your profile. Therefore the book really enforces on the theme of advertisement.
Conformity
““What I’m doing, what I’ve been doing over the feed for the last two days, is trying to create customer profile that’s so screwed, no one can market to it. I’m not going to let them catalog me. I’m not going to become invisible.”” (98)
This shows conformity because Violet is trying to not conform to what society is in the book FEED. This also shows that other units do the same based on that she said that she doesn’t want to become “invisible” which implies that everyone else conforms to do what she is not.
Media controlling us
“No one with feeds thinks about it, she said. When you have the feed all your life, you’re brought up to not think about things. Like then never telling you that it’s a republic and not democracy. Its something that makes me angry, what people don’t know about these days. Because of the feed, we’re raising a nation of idiots. Ignorant, self-centered idiots.” (113)
This shows that media controls their lives, and that it is basically stated in this statement. They rely on the feed to work and do things. Overall they control the units and create them almost, and it basically forces them to rely on the feed.
Media Morality
“I said, “Oh, nothing,” when Link looked at me funny. We went out to kick some ass on the basketball courts.” (276)
This quote says that he did care for Violet because she was dying and couldn’t function. So he left and found no use to her for Quendy. This shows that he’s a bad person because he was inflicted by the feed and this lead him to being convinced that Violet wasn’t good enough.
Consumerism
“I stayed up all through the early morning, shivering, ordering, ordering, and was awake at dawn, when I put on clothes, and went up to the surface, and watch the stupid sun rise over that whole shit-stupid world.” (294)
This shows consumerism because Titus is influenced by the feed to shop and consume products through the feed. Therefore giving the theme of consumerism and explaining that the media forces products into their lives.
Consumerism:
ReplyDeleteThe world of FEED is overly focused on advertising and consumerism. Everywhere the characters go, and in every chapter we read, there is an advertisement or an ad reference like "School™" or "Clouds™". In today's world, we experience advertising at an ever-growing level. Although not to the extreme of FEED, everything we do, like watching TV and surfing the internet, involves being marketed to. The persistent advertising experienced when one uses the feed is a scary prediction of where our world could be headed. We are being marketed to at all times, and it could send us down a bleak path.
Human Fragility:
Everything in FEED is incredibly technologically advanced, and it has developed a lot of the technological dreams of our modern world. That being said, the citizens of the FEED world experience the same fragility as those in today's world. We can be killed at any moment, and by anything. The technology of FEED, however exciting, cannot protect human's from the fundamental fact of death. The characters in the book experience this fact through the hack on the Moon. Although they do not die, they have a near-death experience. "Then they touched us, then bodies fell, and there was nothing else." (40)
Surveillance:
Today, the idea of government surveillance is a topic of much debate and argument. In FEED, intense surveillance is a part of everyday life. Corporations watch over everything that is searched on the FEED and they learn people's information to market easier to them. "It's like a spiral: they keep making everything more basic so it will appeal to everyone. And gradually, everyone gets used to everything being basic, so we get less and less varied as people, more simple,"(pg. 97). This quote describes the intense marketing done by corporations in FEED, and some of it is present in today's world. The argument over being watched by the government today is developed completely in FEED and surveillance is an unavoidable reality, similar to that in Orwell's "1984".
Language:
FEED is a world that has a distinct division in types and forms of communication and language. There is one language universally spoken and understood by all those who have a feed, but all the poorer people in the world that aren't fortunate enough for a feed are illiterate in it. Below the feed speak, there seems to be a variety of dialects spoken, like "Fortran or Basic" (pg. 65). The divide between those who have feeds and those who don't creates a cultural barrier that is very distinct. As the readers, we view this divide in the relationship between Titus, an average, feed-owning person, and Violet who is poorer and got the feed later in life.
Convergence:
The feed is the ultimate example of convergence. Today, we are experiencing growing convergence with the invention of the iPhone and other smart phones. the feed takes everything from the iPhone, along with thousands of other features, and creates one tool that is the guide to life. "No one with feeds thinks about it, she said. When you have the feed all your life, you're brought up to not think about things." (pg. 113) The feed consumes the lives of those who have it, and it takes complete control of society. The convergence todays is only beginning to scratch the surface of the dystopian reality created by the feed.
• The character's in Feed have their entire lives streamlined by the feed, indicating media's power to simplify life. It allows them to be "supersmart without ever working" (47), provides a platform for viewing content and helps them make decisions about purchases (48). As media technology advances, it decreases the effort a consumer expends for daily activities revealing that media might reduce everyone's ability and desire to work hard.
ReplyDelete• Anderson also reveals that exposure to advertising is the price that we pay to access media content. In Feed ad messages are overwhelming and distract characters from their experiences. Even as Titus is mourning Violets impending death, the feed senses that he is "feeling blue" (299) and markets jeans to him. Though advertising finances media content, it can detract from the media experience as well as life experiences.
• The culture that the feed creates serves to underscore the power of agenda setting. The feed has a greater focus on marketing products to users and delivering weak PR messages from the government rather than on international news. Titus is not aware of news in other parts of the world such as an industrial accident in Central America that claimed the lives of 1500 people until the more tuned in Violet informs him (241). Media control where attention is paid by what information is provided.
• Anderson further discusses the tradeoffs of media, revealing their ability to desensitize us. For instance, the feed controls the limbic system (171) which is perhaps why Titus is unable to empathize with Violet when her health is failing and breaks up with her (270). Media or other external influences may have the potential to alter the way one thinks about the world and others, thus eroding genuine care and compassion in human interaction and relationships. One of the closest examples in our society is the connection between violence in media and real life violence. An overexposure to violence makes it seem more acceptable and that the feed has sheltered Titus from certain emotions makes him incapable to feel them for Violet.
• Violet's condition is indicative of the fact that the increased role of media in our lives requires sacrifice. The feed provides a wealth of information and simplifies life, but the price is that it "is tied in to everything" (171) and a malfunction can result in the loss of motor skills, memory and even death. Violet gets a feed at the expense of her life, which reveals the sobering truth that all new media have risks and consequences.
TVs shows & movie
ReplyDeleteIn the feed, people use feed cast to see the movie and TVs shows. Feed cast like a television with a television signal or a computer with Wi-Fi. Besides, the feed cast is free. When Titus mother did not do her work, she would sit down and watch TV show named The Quark (p76). When Titus’s mother and father r express him, they utilize “you like an actor named DelGlacey Murdoch” and they see this actor by feed cast.(p116)
Communication
In the Feed, When characters communicate with the other person who is not in the same place, they use feed. They chat like utilize telephone. However, telephones are in their feed. They just talk to anybody that they want to speak. That person will receive a voice message. Titus and Violet chatted. They just say something in a different place. The other person will receive the information(P105).
Share
Share is a new function of the Internet. It may be like a blogger or an internet drive. People can share with their personal documents to whomever they want to share. In Part 3, when Meg and Violet went to the party. Violet could listen to the music that Titus listened by feed. Titus even can feel every note that Violet listened
Hacker
In the Feed, people’s feed will be damaged by a hacker. Like computer now, computers always be attacked by hackers. Violet’s feed was destroyed. The doctors in the moon said it is due to the hacker. Most of hacker just made the feed jam, but hacker damaged Violet’s feed.(P90)
Advertisements
Violets suggest an idea to the mall. They arranged people to diverse groups, which based on their personalities. They give distinct advertisement based on the groups to sell their production (p97). Besides, when Titus and violet went to the store named Bebrekker&Karl. Advertisements of this store appeared in their feed. The feed also can explain the function of the productions when they saw the goods which they had an interest in (p98).
CONVERGENCE
ReplyDeleteThrough FEED, different technologies are spread across several media platforms. The most prominent example of this may be the "feed" itself: it's as if the characters' brains have become robots. Everything they could possibly want or need to know or have is provided to them through the feed. For example, Titus notes: "It was great because we had music on our feeds, and it was the same music, so I knew she was hearing the same notes that I was hearing, and our heads were moving together..." (p. 80)
TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION/ADVANCEMENT
Throughout the FEED reality, our technology as we know it today has evolved, advanced, and grown to the point where it is just different enough to let us believe it may not happen in the future, but just similar enough to what we already have to scare us into believing that it's a solid possibility. Though it may not be in our conceivable future, there is a chance technology will evolve to this place, or at least to a place a lot like it. In the FEED world, flying cars finally do exist: "It was brag because she didn't have a ride, and I could borrow my parents' upcar, so I got to fly over and pick her up." (p. 79)
CONSUMPTION
This theme applies to the FEED world on two levels: the characters consume the media, and in turn, the media have consumed the characters. It's sort of paradoxical in a way- technology has evolved through human consumption to the extent that it has become a literal part of them. They consumed it so heavily, so now it consumes them. Violet, perhaps the most level-headed of the group, reminds Titus that "it's got to change us somehow." (p. 81) In saying this, of course, she refers to the feeds.
TERMINOLOGY
Just as technology has evolved in the FEED world, so has the language. Technology (in the feeds) has made their lives quicker, (supposedly) easier, more efficient, etc. The resulting language has the same effect: abbreviations, slang, etc. The most common use of this evolved form of language is "unit".
FREE WILL
Throughout the story, the question is raised as to exactly how much free-will these FEED reality inhabitants exercise on a daily basis. Unfortunately, we ask ourselves the very same question nowadays in our own reality of technology and media influence. We have evolved into a culture that relies on our media consumption for just about everything: connecting with other people, documenting our lives, setting alarms, making lists, marking calendars, playing games...the list goes on and on. The FEED world presents a complete technological takeover. It's perhaps scariest to know that it's a definite possibility for our future.
1. Conformity
ReplyDeleteThe corporations are all slowly making everyone similar through the control they have in minds. With all the information readily available, it’s much easier for the companies to form the desires of people. One example of this is found in the Riot Gear that Loga, Marty, and Quendy begin to wear. “ ‘It’s Riot Gear. It’s retro. Its beat up to look like one of the twentieth-century riots. Its been big since earlier this week’” (159).
2. Digital Communication
Throughout the book, even if the two people are in the same room, they will communicate through the feed. Not only do they use it as a replacement of speech, but they watch movies together through it. “We went up the steps and into the family room. We were going to watch something on the feed” (173).
3. Corporation Power
The corporations are running sales through the feeds located inside people’s heads. This essentially puts them in their mind and they are able to contact the customers at any point. This is found in Book 3 when Violet is contacted in the middle of the night: “Looking at your recent purchase history, I notice that you’ve expressed interest in a lot of products you haven’t bought. Are you having trouble making up your mind with so much cool stuff to choose from?” (154).
4. Independence
Although teens in modern society are relatively independent, they appear to be more so in Feed. The book begins with a group of high- school students traveling to the moon without any supervision, which says enough in and of itself. The independence is supported throughout the book in the way that Titus travels a great distance frequently to see Violet. “The next day, I followed my feed’s directions to her house. I drove about two hundred miles to get to the general area” (134).
5. Mass Production
Violet and Titus travel to a “farm” that is made up of mass-produced acres of fresh meat. I could not even fathom the experience he describes: “It smelled like the country. It was a filet mignon farm, all of it, and the tissue spread for miles around the paths where we were walking. It was like these huge hedges of red all around us, with these beautiful marble patterns running through them” (142).
Consumerism:
ReplyDeleteThe world of FEED is a hypercommercialism filled society in support of constant consumerism. The Feed bombards your life with advertisements, links, and endless opportunities to purchase and obtain as consumers. As Titus explained when at the mall, “they were buying all this stuff like inflatable houses for their kids, and the dog massagers, and the toothbrush extensions” (96) all of which are available to you not only at the store but also in your Feed.
Conformity:
Throughout the book, the characters display the theme of conformity whether it is by the way people look or act. The characters conform to the “norms” of society whether it is by how to act at parties, which show to watch on the Feed, or what to consume when using the Feed. "They keep making everything more basic so it will appeal to everyone. And gradually, everyone gets used to everything being basic, so we get less and less varied as people, more simple" (97)
Convergence:
The Feed is the ultimate convergence technology because “everything that goes on, goes on the feed” (48). Every separate medium we know about today’s world has been converged into the Feed. TV shows, movies, shopping, education, and even test driving a car are all individual activities that have been integrated into the Feed.
Language:
The language of FEED is directly associated with the Feed itself. Mostly all communication is done through the Feed making the language in dialogue very robotic with short sentences that are straight to the point such as “I missed the Feed” (47). The language has turned into a computerized and efficient way of speaking.
Dependency:
There is no question of how incredibly dependent the charters are of their Feed. A world without their feed is a world where the characters are completely lost and completely helpless. Titus shows this by his statement “in fact the thing that made me pissy was when they couldn’t help me at all, so I was just lying there, and couldn’t chat anyone, and I couldn’t do a fuckin thing except look at the stupid boat painting” (49).
1. Dependence
ReplyDeleteThroughout the book, there is a constant reminder of how much the characters depend on the feed to get though daily life. It becomes more obvious to us when they lose the feed how much they interacted with it, as if they are interacting with another person. What I found most interesting was when they were at the party and Violet asked if the party would be as good as it was on the feed, and he said that it was almost that good. It's as if the feed gives them this second life that is more interesting and has more going on than their real life.
"'Yeah. Unit. God, I'm so excited to be going to a real party.'
'Oh yeah?'
'Will it be like it is on the feed?'
I patted her hand. 'Yeah. I mean, dumber, but yeah.'" (79)
"It felt good to get out and see all the upcars in tubes and in the parking lots, just normal stuff, like people walking and talking on their feeds, and kids hanging out and shit." (77)
2. Presence of Companies
It seems that throughout the book there is the presence of trademarks, advertising, and news throughout feeds and day to day activities. In the feeds, they talk about how the ads are specific to the people and are based off of their interests and what they viewed last, very similarly to how it is done today with cookies. The one thing that I found interesting to be involved with this category is that they trademarked school, showing that the presence of these companies is not only in their feeds, but throughout their real lives in school. I think the fact that Violet does not go to school like the rest of the characters also gives some insight into why she thinks differently and questions the feed.
"'My friends and I are all home schooled, so we're a mixed bag. Bettina's mother has us come over and weave ponchos.'
'You don't go to SchoolTM?'" (79)
3. Uniformity
I find this aspect very interesting because it can be paralleled in our lives today. The companies and corporations are using the feeds to try and make certain things appeal to different groups of people. From this, they can create their own demographics, they don't have to worry about making their ads work with the people, they start working with the people when they are born and morph them into the people they want to be.
"'They're also waiting to make you want things. Everything we've grown up with--the stories on the feed, the games, all of that-- it's all streamlining our personalities so we're easier to sell to. I mean, they do these demographic studies that divide everyone up into a few personality types, and then you get ads based on what you're supposedly like.'"(97)
4. Gender Stereotypes
I found a case of this where it shows violet as getting a stereotypical "woman's" meal. Though this can be unimportant to some, I think that the use of making her a "typical" woman is trying to make her more relate-able to the reader. In comparison to the "big steak", her Caesar salad seems more dainty and almost weak.
" We had mozzarella sticks and then I had a big steak. She got a Caesar salad." (103)
5. Personification of the feed
Throughout our readings, I have found that the characters can tend to refer to the feed as if it is a living being, not just in their heads.
"It was like they were lots of friendly butterflies, and we were smeared with something, and they kept coming and coming, and their wings were winking beautifuly, and more and more came. And they were landing on our fingers, and on our lips, and on our eyes, opening and closing. And we were going --Woah! Woah! Woah! It was crazy." (106)
I think this is a great metaphor as to how the feed comes in and almost surrounds and suffocates you. Being compared to butterflies shows how the users of the feed think that although all of these different things may be surrounding them, they are still a beautiful life form.
1. Advertisements: Just how we are constantly interrupted by advertisements whether online or in the physical world, Titus is often interrupted with advertisements as soon as he comes into contact with certain stores or attractions. Sometimes he becomes distracted by these ads when he is talking. When he visited Bebrekker & Karl his Feed instantly filled with items that might be of interest to him (99).
ReplyDelete2. Surveillance and the theme of monitoring our interests to determine what we like is also used. Violet comes to the realization that the Feed is “streaming [their] personalities so [they’re] easier to sell to” (97). They are always being categorized and by allowing the Feed to understand their interests, they are allowing the Feed to control their lives.
3. Dependency: While people who were late to the Feed world can imagine life without it, people like Titus are unable to imagine life without the Feed. The Feed is where he attains his knowledge and skills as he seems to be lacking in reading and writing, the most fundamental aspects of life. He also begins to fear he is missing out when he is not on his Feed (43).
4. Interactive Robots: We are in an age in which we expect robots and computers to do all our work for us. Nina who is a “personal FeedTech shopping assistant” is very similar to Apple’s Siri. Nina is able to gather information based on what you say or on your interest (106).
5. Propaganda: We only know as much as the media tells us which means that it is our responsibility to find out more about the world on our own. This can be seen when Violet tells Titus about her interests in bad things that were happening in South America. Titus states that Violet “couldn’t really tell exactly how bad, because the news had been asked to be a little more positive”(111) which means that the media is limiting or filtering how much we should know.
Overall, M.T Anderson wants us to know that the media is controlling our lives and the more we become consumed in it, the more dependent we’ll become therefore the more it will control our lives. With corporations controlling the advertisements we see online and in physical world along with their ability to know our interests only makes matters worst. It is up to us to limit our media usage as this will only become an even greater issue in the future.
1) Convergence: All of our media is coming together onto singular devices. Also, everything has turned into advertisement as it does in Feed, “There’s no difference between a song and an advertising jingle anymore” (101). This also shows consumerism in all media, including their feeds and now music.
ReplyDelete2) Conglomeration: It is not only bad enough that conglomerations control all of the media, in Feed they also control the schools, then controlling the minds of consumers far more than the media’s original reach, “… some big media congloms got together and gave all of this money and bought the schools…” (110).
3) Consumerism: Everything is owned by someone (CloudsTM and SchoolTM). Also, their purpose is to be consumers. Their feeds are advertising tools, and when they go to SchoolTM it is owned by a corporation who wants to sell them things, “Now that School™ is run by the corporations, it’s pretty brag, because it teaches us how the world can be used, like mainly how to use our feeds” (110).
4) Instant Communication: We can text/IM our friends, but that concept is taken one step further by the feed. People can talk through their minds/ their feeds that are part of their mind. Titus and Violet talk through their feeds for their private conversation.
5) Digital Divide: It is believed that everyone has a feed in this futuristic society because it is what sells thing and what makes the market; however Violet tells Titus, “only about seventy-three percent of Americans have feeds” (112). This reveals the difference between the “haves” versus the “have-nots.” There is this digital divide in the United States because of the enormous amounts of poverty, and with two percent of the population not having access to the internet, and 20% of Americans not being able to afford internet access in their homes. Also, only 56% of Americans have smartphones today, leaving someone without a smartphone to a disadvantage. Over 90% of Americans making over $75,000 have smartphones, so the data shows that poorer Americans do not have access to the same digital connections as richer Americans do.
Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/06/06/more-than-half-of-us-have-smartphones-giving-apple-and-google-much-to-smile-about/
http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/26/4660008/pew-study-finds-30-percent-americans-have-no-home-broadband
Conformity:
ReplyDeleteI found the theme of conformity in Feed very interesting because of how easily we can relate it with our world. An excerpt from the book that I found interesting was; “They’re also waiting to make you want things. Everything we’ve grown up with – the stories on the feed, the games, all of that-it’s all streamlining our personalities so we’re easier to sell to. … They try to figure out who you are and to make you conform to one of their types”(97) because it perfectly sums up what was going on within the Feed world and our world, we are all being monitored, and categorized into demographics and then targeted to persuade us into buying things so we fit in and make us feel like we’re a part of buying into whatever their selling.
Language:
In Feed the characters speak a lot but they don’t seem to have much to say of any significance. Anderson uses slang to connect the characters to today’s youth. Similar to people’s beliefs in our world Anderson uses certain characters to show the risks of slang and the deterioration of language, “He says the language is dying. He thinks words are being debased.”(137)
Dependency:
The characters in Feed are so dependent on the Feed that they couldn’t survive with out it. It is made extremely obvious to the reader just how addicted the characters are to the feed when they are forced to live with out it due to a virus and Titus is trying to talk to Violet and within the narration he said “I started to not want to say anything. I kept thinking of nice things I could say, like, 'I’m glad you went out last night, because that’s how I met you,’ or ‘And I think you are a normal person.’ but they all seemed just smarm.”(54)
Technology:
Technology within feed is a huge part of the socialization of both our world and in Feed. It is also something that people obsess over whenever it progresses. Like when the feed came out Titus explained how people were “all da da da, this big educational thing, da da da, your child will have the advantage, encyclopedias at their fingertips”(Anderson 47) and everybody felt as though they needed to be a part of this big technological improvement.
Authority:
In the novel authority is presented through the feed’s advertisements and creation and targeting of demographics to conform the way it wants. Though it is normal to conform and give in to the propaganda Titus and especially Violet resist some of the commands from the feed in an effort to preserve some of the little free will that they are left with. I think this coincides well with a lot of revolutions in history where people start to realize that their governments are controlling so much of their lives that they just believe essentially anything that they are told.
CONTROL:
ReplyDeleteThe Feed controls everything that Titus and his friends see along with the things that they are offered. Corporations run the Feed so therefore the corporations are controling everything that people see.
"Now that schoolTM is run by the corporations, it's pretty brag, because it teaches us how the world can be used," (109).
DEPENDENCE:
All the characters have an attachment to the Feed that isn't healthy. They survive on the Feed with constant connection. They cannot function without the Feed because it is the only life that they know. Through Violet, Titus is seeing that there is more to life than just the Feed.
"Tomorrow. She and me are driving out to like the country. She wants to go for a walk. I'm picking her up," (124).
SURVEILLANCE:
In order to keep an eye on the people, the corporations record everything that they do. From going to a mall and looking at items to browsing on their Feeds for items, the corporations know. When Titus and Violet go to the mall to experiment they really confuse the Feed because the Feed loses touch with who they are as a person.
"They're watching us right now. They can tell where you're looking. They want to know what you want," (97).
LANGUAGE:
This is a large part of the book, Titus learns after seeing Violet for one day that there is more to language than m-chat on the Feed. Violet shows him a dead language, the written language. This is news to Titus, especially from the ease of the Feed and m-chat. They also use a lot of words that we do not use or know in our language, and I call this the Feed language.
"Linkwhacker! Shit! You're like doing all this meg damage to my knees and my face!" (6).
CONVERGENCE:
In today's society, everything is becoming one. Our phones are the ultimate version of convergence because we can do everything from our handheld devices. In Feed, the Feed is today's iPhone convergence on steroids. Everything we could possibly need in our heads.
"Then came all these pictures, and I was seeing all over the world, and there were explanations." (151).
Fight the FEED!
ReplyDeleteGood work here, colleagues.
Let's dive in,
W