Highkuhi Dzhanszyan
Professor Wexler
English 355: Final Paper
Dystopia: Targeted in Underdeveloped Countries
Although the concept of Utopia is only talked about in terms of the future, people are blinded by the fact that a form of utopia, called governmental dystopia is gradually forming in underdeveloped countries such as El Salvador. Governmental Dystopia is when the state controls all economic and political matters, beliefs and attitudes. This means that a state governs the economy, politics (if there are any) and religious beliefs. This is a clear example of the life people were and still are forced to live in Central America. The revolt of 1932 was the starting point of the tension between the government and its citizens and continued until the civil war. The country was ruled by 65 of the wealthiest families in Central America and it was up to them how they distributed economic wealth and who they gave power to. This country is an oligarchy and because of it a middle- class did not exist, which gives the higher- class the opportunity to control the country. Throughout this paper, I will discuss the civil war in El Salvador by applying the concept of dystopia, war is peace and ignorance is strength as well as the movie “Clockwork Orange”.
In the book “1984” written by George Orwell the common theme that links the situation in the book to the real world is the danger of totalitarianism. Orwell portrays a state in which government monitors and controls every aspect of human life to the extent that even having a disloyal thought is against the law. As the novel progresses, the timidly rebellious Winston Smith sets out to challenge the limits of the Party’s power, only to discover that its ability to control and enslave its subjects dwarfs even his most paranoid conceptions of its reach. As the reader comes to understand through Winston’s eyes, The Party uses a number of techniques to control its citizens, each of which is an important theme of its own in the novel. These include: physical control, control of information and history.
The Party physically controls the subjects in the novel by watching out for any sign of disloyalty. Disobedience is only considered so if one acts in a rebellious manner, therefore, this is the reason why the Party had such a strong hold physically and mentally on people. The Party also controls every source of information, managing and rewriting the content of all newspapers and histories for its own ends. The Party does not allow individuals to keep records of their past, such as photographs or documents. As a result, memories become fuzzy and unreliable, and citizens become perfectly willing to believe whatever the Party tells them. By controlling the present, the Party is able to manipulate the past. And in controlling the past, the Party can justify all of its actions in the present. The society described in Orwell’s “1984” sheds light on all the genocides that have taken place throughout the world, but have gone by never being written in history books as an event that has been known to have taken place. The concept of ignorance is strength is clearly evident in Salvador because it’s not that the authority cannot understand it, it’s that they don’t want to understand it; because they know that being susceptible to understanding will gradually diminish their power/authority.
Orwell describes how children would look forward to attending the events where executions would take place. This shows how the innocence of children, which is so innate, is diminished by this system called “Big Brother. Society has corrupted the people to a point where they even have their preferences as to how an execution takes place. This is revealed when Syme says, “it spoils it when they tie their feet together. I like to see them kicking…tongue sticking out- and blue” (Orwell 49-50). The inhumanity of people is emphasized by the amusement they receive from the site of others getting executed. This indicates how society has completely taken charge of their emotions and thoughts and replaced it with illiterate logic. “Big Brother” seemed like a very powerful figure which time and time again reminds me of the SOA military in El Salvador. Written facts of the civil war indicate that these violent military men received the same amusement when raping the women they came across. In groups they would stand and decide what they wanted to do with the young woman and amused themselves by making others people’s lives a living hell.
Another utopian novel that sheds light on issues in Central America is “Fahrenheit 451” written by Ray Bradbury. In this novel the society is punished and considered to have committed a felony if an individual possesses a book. Firemen in this society put houses and even people on fire (those who own books) as opposed to putting fires out. The goal of this society parallel to “1984” is to make everyone equal. This means to diminish language which leads to eliminating the individuality that allows us to be different which then leads to the lack of a self identity. It is through language that we are able to self identify and realize what we are dissatisfied and satisfied within the society we live in. As long as we have language and are able to use it in any way we wish to, we may come close to reaching a utopian society but will never achieve it. People who are dissatisfied will never allow for the authority to take complete power. People will fight back by using the power of language and in regards to Salvador, the FMLN military group serves as the perfect example. The FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) is since 1992 a Socialist political party in El Salvador and formerly a coalition of five revolutionary guerrilla organizations. The FMLN formed as a way to rebel against the U.S and the government of El Salvador (wealthy families) that oppressed them with such horrific force.
The U.S as proved to be many times, finds war to be the answer to all their solutions. The U.S, just like Big Brother in Orwell’s 1984 finds that War is peace because war is a way to control a group of people, especially when the people being controlled are from the lower- class and live in underdeveloped countries. The fact that not many people know that the U.S is involved with the destruction that El Salvador has been through reflects the media that we have. I will discuss in more detail about how exactly the media works later throughout my paper. The School of Assassins/The School of the Americas has been the military in Salvador that is controlled and financed by the U.S government. Their ultimate goal is to kill anyone who is thought to be a part of the FMLN (a group of people who were affected by the SOA and who have founded FMLN as a way to fight back against the government).
A political cause was the tradition of dictatorship and bad government which made it difficult for the people of Salvador to conduct a normal political life. What is the meaning of “a normal political life”? These words simply imply first and foremost, that they wanted to live like normal people. Normal people are treated decently and are respected. Normal political life means being able to vote, being able to have some kind of input in the way you live and in the way one wants to live. It means not having the fear of being threatened or killed by the elite if you choose to speak up to what you believe is just or decide to listen to liberation music that gives you hope about the future. The military was given the permission to kill anyone who was thought to be Communists. They killed men who were 12 years and older. Between 1931 and 1960, Salvadorian guards combined repression and reward to convince the public, nationally and internationally, that they were the best to rule the small nation. Shortly after taking power, in 1932 the military repressed a peasant rebellion; they killed 10,000 people and tried to blame it on the Liberal policies implemented political and economic reforms that, to some, promised democracy and independent political precipitation. As they attempted to modernize the state and nation, Liberals built alliances with popular groups, such as peasant organizations and urban labor unions. Fearing the power of these organizations, they intended to control these organizations, and limit their independence.
Poverty among the citizens of El Salvador was a very common situation because the elites took away the lands that bought peasants wealth through the monoculture of coffee. Coffee was and still is a very important agricultural crop that brings in 95% of the country’s income. However, the growing of coffee does not benefit everyone, only those who are in power. Coffee became the axis sound which the contemporary class structure evolved, giving meaning to the fledging nation states. The existing class structure that they have now is because of what a major productive role coffee has played in Salvador’s economic history. Knowing that people cannot survive without their lands, elites took peasants out of their lands so that they can take over the profit and the land.
The U.S has intervened, for the most part, when it came to El Salvador’s military and training. In 1969 El Salvador engaged in a war with Honduras. This war was called the Soccer War, it lasted 4 days and was not about soccer but more about economics and politics. The war was used for an escape from what was really going on in El Salvador. The war overshadowed the brutal truth and reality of the Salvadorian experience. During this war, some Salvadorians moved to Honduras, but the Honduras sent those people back, which was the reason why El Salvador started attacking Honduras. Hearing the word attack makes me think of the military (SOA), which then makes me think of the U.S. It is said that during this war, “the army began demanding a larger budget and new equipment and began receiving counterinsurgency training that had been offered by the U.S in the mid 1960’s” (Montgomery61). The army of El Salvador turned to the U.S for any help and support they may need. This shows us once again that the intervention of the U.S in El Salvador is constant and negative because thousands of women, children and men died off. From this war, several thousand were left dead and at least 100,000 Salvadorians were left homeless. The overall cost of the war was 2 million dollars, which evidently the U.S provided willingly. This event that took place has a political affect on El Salvador because the war took place partly for people’s attention to be on the war instead of the Genocide that was taking place within El Salvador. Another reason why it’s political is because this war has an aftermath and the aftermath is surrounded by the civilians of El Salvador. They had no homes, no food, and no water. The simplest of things were not available and the most contradicting aspect of it is that they were forced to live by these circumstances. These are all political games that the government plays until modern day, especially known to be done by the U.S.
The powerful governmental authority that has resulted from the eagerness of reaching a utopia is apparent in the film A Clockwork Orange directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film in many ways highlights the capability that men have to lie, rob (the elderly), rape woman and treat the people around them very poorly by becoming the cause of severe abuse (mental, physical and emotional abuse). At the same time, the film reveals the authority of government and how they treat people as experiments as opposed to humans. Alex, the fifteen year old protagonist in the film, lives life by causing hurt unto others and by being the risk taker. Ironically, this risk that many times has a positive connotation to it does not in the film, which is the reason why Alex is told that he should be “cured”. The message being conveyed is that once the government sees that someone is constraining from the rules of a utopian system, they will “cure” them by taking away all of their free will. As a whole, the movie emphasized the inviolability of free will, the inherent evil of government, the necessity of commitment in life, good versus evil, commitment versus neutrality, man versus machine, man versus government, youth versus maturity, and intellect versus intuition, to name some of the most prominent ones. Through these themes, Kubrick showcases how a person can only be perfect if they agree to be an experiment for the government. This film sheds light on the various ways of bondage the civilians of Salvador had to face, specifically the deprivation of having a say in their own country.
The FMLN insurgency originated in the 1960s, when reformers challenged the alliance of the right-wing military and the landed oligarchy. Because of the fraudulent presidential elections in 1972 and 1977, leftist political groups organized huge demonstrations demanding fair elections and improved social conditions. The government fought back violently to maintain power. Most Salvadorans were peasants living at subsistence level without running water or electricity, while a tiny privileged minority lived in wealth and opulence. In 1976, the régime's token land reform did little to alleviate the economic inequity. The government replied to the consequent political unrest with state-of-siege declarations, the suspension of constitutional rights, and paramilitary death squads. These actions further alienated the population and prompted many in the Catholic Church to denounce the government violence.
All this makes me wonder, where was the media during all of the violence and horrendous killings in El Salvador? Considering the fact that the U.S financially supported the SOA indicates that the media was only covering not even half of what was really going on. Many times, the media picks and chooses what they will cover based on what they think the public would be more interested in. The story of El Salvador is about the minority which many times is not what reaches news stations. The media that we have known for years has its focus/target on celebrities and trends because they know what sells. This is not to say that the media does not cover world news, but realistically speaking conglomerates in this industry are out to get money. Money and greed are the reasons why we don’t hear real news until we do the research on our own. When it comes to celebrities, movies, fashion, etc, the “the industry robs the individual of his function. Its prime service to the customer is to do his schemasting for him” (Adorno and Horkheimer 4). On the contrary, this was not the case with the Salvadorian civil war because it would include ruining the prestigious reputation of the U.S.
In conclusion, the works of Orwell, Bradbury and films by Kubrick all shed light on the important issues in Central America. Considering the fact that the events in Salvador were remembered through writings indicates that books and historical records are what allow us to remember our past and person we are within. Since we can’t rely on the media to give us the truth, books are a great way to prevent a society from turning dystopian. Although sustaining a utopian society is every rulers dream, as long as we have the language to speak and write the truth, the idea of a utopia will only remain an unreached dream. One thing that needs to be remembered is that there are more people being oppressed than there are oppressors, therefore, we the people will never let that happen.
Works Cited
Adorno, Theodor and Horkheimer, Max. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass
Deception. 1944. Source: https://webteach.csun.edu:31987/SCRIPT/ENGL312_13669- Wexler- Fa09/scripts/serve_home, pg 4. Print.
Bradbury, Ray. “Fahrenheit 451.” Ed. Del Ray. New York. 1978. Print.
Dunkerley, James. “The Salvadorian Experience; The Long War, Dictatorship and
Revolution in El Salvador”. p. 7-8. Print.
Montgomery, Tommie Sue. “Challenges to Power: Revolution in El Salvador; from Civil Strife to
civil peace”, pg 61. Print.
Orwell, Bradbury. “1984.” New York, New York, USA. 1950. Print.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Robbing the Individual from the Self
The idea of having a utopian society has not yet been reached, but definitely seems to be what the elites in charge of our lives want to achieve when they say they want to make our society a” better” place to live. The ultimate goal of those who migrate to America is to reach the American dream, which in reality is full of misconceptions. The American Dream is to be successful enough to buy a big house with a white picket fence, have nice expensive cars and to be able to buy all that one wants and desires. The entertainment industry is fully in charge of manipulating people to think that the life that celebrities lead is the only type of life style that is glamorous and consists of happiness. The concept of a person reaching its full potential of knowledge and true happiness has completely diminished from the goals that drive us to “be better” and “live better”, just like in the story of Fahrenheit 451. The novel and film of Fahrenheit 451 describes how shallow the reasons are for destroying and overlooking the knowledge that makes us humans unique and true individuals who are able to speak proficiently and create personal opinions about issues that surround the world we live in. Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books in a futuristic American city. In Montag’s world, firemen start fires rather than putting them out. The people in this society do not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations. Instead, they drive very fast, watch excessive amounts of television on wall-size sets, and listen to the radio on “Seashell Radio” sets attached to their ears. Fahrenheit 451 will be looked at through social critical theories and those involving the entertainment industry.
The book and movie of Fahrenheit 451 foreshadows the world we will live in if society continues to make media the focal point of our minds and the priority of our lives. The book Fahrenheit 451 is about a man going against the idea/norm of burning houses that consist of books, to add to the idea of how crucial knowledge, language and individuality is. Fahrenheit 451 uses the tool of taking away books as a way to dumb everyone down to the same level, but with society today, media is emphasized (nothing is directly taken away, but instead emphasized) as a way to make society pull away from books and knowledge and to make everyone look the same and to think/ focus on things that are only materialistic and have no real value. In the book Modern Social Imaginaries, Taylor suggests “in the modern ideal, mutual respect and service is directed toward serving our ordinary goals: life, liberty, sustenance of self and family” (Taylor 13). A person like Beatty, the captain of the fire squad who burned books in Fahrenheit 451, eventually becomes very robotic and shallow when mutual respect and service are the only things that direct him to his goals. Instead of knowledge being the tool that directs one closer to their goals, it is substituted by taking away what makes us different and valuable creatures. This is parallel to the society that we live in today. With society today, the media is so concentrated on getting the younger viewers interested in what they are selling, that they stray the younger generation, which is our future, to a path where knowledge is overlooked and not advocated in any way. The goal of the media which is also the reason that Beatty gives Guy Montag for burning books, the protagonist in Fahrenheit 451, is to “make everyone equal” (Bradbury 58 ). Beatty also mentions how “each man should be the image of the other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against” (Bradbury 451). Media is doing the same exact thing by advocating the life style that celebrities have and telling the viewer that we should all be the same and look the same to be happy. When comparing Fahrenheit 451 and our society, I came to the conclusion that we are not that far away from reaching the point where we can physically burn books and where we can finally stop making the same negative effect in a way where it’s not obvious.
The oppression of ignorance is a theme that drives Guy Montag to free himself from the strain that was on him physically and mentally. Individuality is lost both in society today and in Fahrenheit 451 because “the industry robs the individual of his function. Its prime service to the customer is to do his schemasting for him” (Adorno and Horkheimer 4). In Fahrenheit 451, although Guy Montag found it wrong to burn houses, books and people, he was forced into it by Beatty’s rules. The fact that the entire town went after Montag to track him down, shows translucent characteristic of “Big Brother” in Orwell’s 1984. The industry in this case is the government and does all the thinking and decision making for the people so that they won’t have to decide what is good and what is bad. It will be stated and expected to conform to by the people for the good of the government. The entertainment industry has also robbed the individual of the self by brainwashing the public by making them think that one will gain more happiness about themselves if they mimic celebrities and their “glamour”. With movies that premier in theaters don’t let us decide for our own if it is a good or bad movie. We are directly told even before watching it that it is good/ bad through ratings and shows that cover the media. The industry has begun to serve all people by creating shows and movies that are appealing to all age groups and all ethnic backgrounds. This bright idea which earns the industry billions is created to completely remove the idea of knowledge/ earning an education. The destruction of knowledge and language is a work that is in progress today by the entertainment industry that we are so a part of. It seems to be having a stronger hold on us as individuals as time progresses and as we allow them to by eating up all that they try to feed the public (metaphorically speaking).
Works Cited
Adorno, Theodor and Horkheimer, Max. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass
Deception. 1944. Source: https://webteach.csun.edu:31987/SCRIPT/ENGL312_13669-Wexler- Fa09/scripts/serve_home.
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Del Ray. New York. 1978.
The book and movie of Fahrenheit 451 foreshadows the world we will live in if society continues to make media the focal point of our minds and the priority of our lives. The book Fahrenheit 451 is about a man going against the idea/norm of burning houses that consist of books, to add to the idea of how crucial knowledge, language and individuality is. Fahrenheit 451 uses the tool of taking away books as a way to dumb everyone down to the same level, but with society today, media is emphasized (nothing is directly taken away, but instead emphasized) as a way to make society pull away from books and knowledge and to make everyone look the same and to think/ focus on things that are only materialistic and have no real value. In the book Modern Social Imaginaries, Taylor suggests “in the modern ideal, mutual respect and service is directed toward serving our ordinary goals: life, liberty, sustenance of self and family” (Taylor 13). A person like Beatty, the captain of the fire squad who burned books in Fahrenheit 451, eventually becomes very robotic and shallow when mutual respect and service are the only things that direct him to his goals. Instead of knowledge being the tool that directs one closer to their goals, it is substituted by taking away what makes us different and valuable creatures. This is parallel to the society that we live in today. With society today, the media is so concentrated on getting the younger viewers interested in what they are selling, that they stray the younger generation, which is our future, to a path where knowledge is overlooked and not advocated in any way. The goal of the media which is also the reason that Beatty gives Guy Montag for burning books, the protagonist in Fahrenheit 451, is to “make everyone equal” (Bradbury 58 ). Beatty also mentions how “each man should be the image of the other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against” (Bradbury 451). Media is doing the same exact thing by advocating the life style that celebrities have and telling the viewer that we should all be the same and look the same to be happy. When comparing Fahrenheit 451 and our society, I came to the conclusion that we are not that far away from reaching the point where we can physically burn books and where we can finally stop making the same negative effect in a way where it’s not obvious.
The oppression of ignorance is a theme that drives Guy Montag to free himself from the strain that was on him physically and mentally. Individuality is lost both in society today and in Fahrenheit 451 because “the industry robs the individual of his function. Its prime service to the customer is to do his schemasting for him” (Adorno and Horkheimer 4). In Fahrenheit 451, although Guy Montag found it wrong to burn houses, books and people, he was forced into it by Beatty’s rules. The fact that the entire town went after Montag to track him down, shows translucent characteristic of “Big Brother” in Orwell’s 1984. The industry in this case is the government and does all the thinking and decision making for the people so that they won’t have to decide what is good and what is bad. It will be stated and expected to conform to by the people for the good of the government. The entertainment industry has also robbed the individual of the self by brainwashing the public by making them think that one will gain more happiness about themselves if they mimic celebrities and their “glamour”. With movies that premier in theaters don’t let us decide for our own if it is a good or bad movie. We are directly told even before watching it that it is good/ bad through ratings and shows that cover the media. The industry has begun to serve all people by creating shows and movies that are appealing to all age groups and all ethnic backgrounds. This bright idea which earns the industry billions is created to completely remove the idea of knowledge/ earning an education. The destruction of knowledge and language is a work that is in progress today by the entertainment industry that we are so a part of. It seems to be having a stronger hold on us as individuals as time progresses and as we allow them to by eating up all that they try to feed the public (metaphorically speaking).
Works Cited
Adorno, Theodor and Horkheimer, Max. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass
Deception. 1944. Source: https://webteach.csun.edu:31987/SCRIPT/ENGL312_13669-Wexler- Fa09/scripts/serve_home.
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Del Ray. New York. 1978.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Thoughts on Media
I always thought that the entertainment industry had a purpose of brainwashing the public, but the articles by Adorno, Horkheimer and Benjamin present extreme, yet very true views on what the entertainment industry really stands for. In the article written by Adorno and Horkheimer, it is mentioned how this industry is based on producing and selling with the ultimate goal of making as much money from their products as possible. Something is provided for all kinds of people so that no one is able to escape this industry. By offering so many different types of products for the public, they are basically saying how everyone must behave and submit to the billion dollar industry that owns us. We come to “understand” how formalized the procedure is when we “see” how similar the products are at the end. From block- buster movies to automobiles, they are all equipped with the latest psychological formulas to make us spend money on things that “sound” good the ear. All this made me think, are we really told that if we don’t conform (in regards to buying things that conglomerates try to sell) we are a stranger to society and left powerless, economically and therefore spiritually? Does this industry have this strong of a hold on us? I believe that we try to avoid this fact, but it does have a strong hold on us. Everything we do and say revolves around the media. Our language which is used to know the self and others has become a tool whose main component is the media. Now day’s people use the things they see in movies, T.V and what they hear on the radio as a way to connect to other people and form relationships with them. This media becomes the foundation of what is supposed to be real and sincere (ex: relationships and friendships). Which is more common with someone that you just meet, being asked what your religious and political views are or what your favorite song, movie or book is? One thing I have noticed is that every year when the first day of school comes around almost all of my Professors ask the class to describe themselves by a favorite movie, song or book. These are all things that make the media therefore, does the media define who we are as individuals? As Adorno and Horkheimer mention, “the industry robs the individual of his function.” If the industry leaves nothing for the consumer to classify a film or a song as good or bad, then we no longer engage in things with a conscious mind.
Like Walter Benjamin mentions in his article, the mechanical reproduction of the arts brush aside “creativity and genius, eternal value and mystery.” If we are deprived of the things that makes a movie brilliant and what makes a song touch our hearts, then why is it that we find ourselves so attached to this whole idea of the media. I personally found both of the readings very interesting because I work for the entertainment industry and it’s so true how the industry runs on making non- authentic products for the consumers to buy. Many of the shows out there are targeting the younger generation knowing that they are more vulnerable to things that resemble their language. We are victims in our own society. Watch out because they are out to get you big time!!!
Like Walter Benjamin mentions in his article, the mechanical reproduction of the arts brush aside “creativity and genius, eternal value and mystery.” If we are deprived of the things that makes a movie brilliant and what makes a song touch our hearts, then why is it that we find ourselves so attached to this whole idea of the media. I personally found both of the readings very interesting because I work for the entertainment industry and it’s so true how the industry runs on making non- authentic products for the consumers to buy. Many of the shows out there are targeting the younger generation knowing that they are more vulnerable to things that resemble their language. We are victims in our own society. Watch out because they are out to get you big time!!!
A Clockwork Orange (Response Paper 1 of 2)
Society At Its Most Destructed State
The movie A Clockwork Orange is about a fifteen year old boy named Alex and his gang who spent most of their time getting high, lying, robbing, raping woman and treating the people around them very poorly through severe abuse (mental, physical and emotional abuse). The movie starts off by these group of kids spotting a drunk on the street singing. They stop and deicide to make fun of the drunken man by kicking him in the stomach. It is at this point where one of the themes of the movie is revealed: the younger generation controlling the old and how law and order has diminished. This youth is clearly full of violence and has no fear of punishment. Randy Martin suggests a societies central cleavage would be played out along the lines of risk. Those who are able to live life with always taking risks are masters and leaders of their own lives, but those who are not capable of being risky is the population that is “at risk” and the target of all types of domestic wars like drugs, crime, kids and culture (Martin 2 ). From the beginning to mid- way through the movie, the population that represented risk was Alex and his gang. They were very much into the world of misconceptions, where physical desires become the one and only priority. However, towards reaching the end, the story has a certain twist to it because the population that is “at risk” turns out to be the group of individuals who lived in intense evil manners. The reason being that they were the ones involved with the drugs, crime and the lack of culture. It only makes sense that what Martin describes (concept of risk) is the moral of the movie. The moral being that although risk is thought of in a positive spectrum the reality of it is that if “risk” is abused than it brings forth a lot of conflict that many times leads to wars.
Althusser suggests that our values, desires and preferences are inculcated in us by ideological practice, the sphere which has the defining property of constituting individuals as subjects. Ideological practice consists of an assortment of institutions called Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs), which include the family, the media, religious organizations and, most importantly, the education system, as well as the received ideas they propagate (Althusser 3). There is, however, no single ISA that produces in us the belief that we are self-conscious agents. Instead, we derive this belief in the course of learning what it is to be a daughter, a schoolchild, black, a steelworker, a councilor, and so forth. This is to say that Alex in A Clockwork Orange did not notice one day that he can be a powerful leader and can find ways to get easy money and sleep with woman all day long. If Alex is put into the context of Althusser’s belief, then Alex realized the life he could be living when he slowly started to include activities such as robbing and raping into his daily life. As always, there are consequences for social practices that are considered “immoral”, especially when it reaches a point where the government gets involved. Although many different people would tell Alex that he is a murderer, he would not understand it to be a negative connotation. Alex received 14 years in prison and yet he did not understand what he did wrong. It was not until the doctors made him watch scenes of rapped scenes when he started to feel sick and disgusted by what was being seen. However, he tells us near the end that the sick nausea that he felt was not because he was cured by science but because Beethoven’s 9th symphony would be playing every time. This scene is an obvious example of classical conditioning. Everytime that Alex saw a woman, he had to act upon his desires, therefore was not used to resisting his temptations. However, for him to be “cured” he needs to resist what he normally wouldn’t and this causes the nausea/ withdrawal symptom, just like a person laying off of drugs. He couldn’t stand anything that linked back to the older generation. The movie comes to show us that he did realize what he did wrong but instead decided to go along the same path. As a whole, the movie emphasized the inviolability of free will, the inherent evil of government, the necessity of commitment in life, good versus evil, commitment versus neutrality, man versus machine, man versus government, youth versus maturity, and intellect versus intuition, to name some of the most prominent ones. The two readings by Martin and Althusser were definitely relatable to the movie because the readings were about a society where the government is a big machine that the people had to be at constant war with. The two readings and the movie connect to this idea of not being able to reach a utopian society as long as we have the language to communicate with others the way we wish to.
Works Cited
Martin, Randy. “Where Did The Future Go?”
https://webteach.csun.edu:31987/SCRIPT/ENGL312_13669-Wexler-Fa09/scripts/serve_home
Althusser, Louis. “Ideolgy and Ideological State Aparatusesses”. La Pense. 1970.
https://webteach.csun.edu:31987/SCRIPT/ENGL312_13669-Wexler-Fa09/scripts/serve_home
The movie A Clockwork Orange is about a fifteen year old boy named Alex and his gang who spent most of their time getting high, lying, robbing, raping woman and treating the people around them very poorly through severe abuse (mental, physical and emotional abuse). The movie starts off by these group of kids spotting a drunk on the street singing. They stop and deicide to make fun of the drunken man by kicking him in the stomach. It is at this point where one of the themes of the movie is revealed: the younger generation controlling the old and how law and order has diminished. This youth is clearly full of violence and has no fear of punishment. Randy Martin suggests a societies central cleavage would be played out along the lines of risk. Those who are able to live life with always taking risks are masters and leaders of their own lives, but those who are not capable of being risky is the population that is “at risk” and the target of all types of domestic wars like drugs, crime, kids and culture (Martin 2 ). From the beginning to mid- way through the movie, the population that represented risk was Alex and his gang. They were very much into the world of misconceptions, where physical desires become the one and only priority. However, towards reaching the end, the story has a certain twist to it because the population that is “at risk” turns out to be the group of individuals who lived in intense evil manners. The reason being that they were the ones involved with the drugs, crime and the lack of culture. It only makes sense that what Martin describes (concept of risk) is the moral of the movie. The moral being that although risk is thought of in a positive spectrum the reality of it is that if “risk” is abused than it brings forth a lot of conflict that many times leads to wars.
Althusser suggests that our values, desires and preferences are inculcated in us by ideological practice, the sphere which has the defining property of constituting individuals as subjects. Ideological practice consists of an assortment of institutions called Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs), which include the family, the media, religious organizations and, most importantly, the education system, as well as the received ideas they propagate (Althusser 3). There is, however, no single ISA that produces in us the belief that we are self-conscious agents. Instead, we derive this belief in the course of learning what it is to be a daughter, a schoolchild, black, a steelworker, a councilor, and so forth. This is to say that Alex in A Clockwork Orange did not notice one day that he can be a powerful leader and can find ways to get easy money and sleep with woman all day long. If Alex is put into the context of Althusser’s belief, then Alex realized the life he could be living when he slowly started to include activities such as robbing and raping into his daily life. As always, there are consequences for social practices that are considered “immoral”, especially when it reaches a point where the government gets involved. Although many different people would tell Alex that he is a murderer, he would not understand it to be a negative connotation. Alex received 14 years in prison and yet he did not understand what he did wrong. It was not until the doctors made him watch scenes of rapped scenes when he started to feel sick and disgusted by what was being seen. However, he tells us near the end that the sick nausea that he felt was not because he was cured by science but because Beethoven’s 9th symphony would be playing every time. This scene is an obvious example of classical conditioning. Everytime that Alex saw a woman, he had to act upon his desires, therefore was not used to resisting his temptations. However, for him to be “cured” he needs to resist what he normally wouldn’t and this causes the nausea/ withdrawal symptom, just like a person laying off of drugs. He couldn’t stand anything that linked back to the older generation. The movie comes to show us that he did realize what he did wrong but instead decided to go along the same path. As a whole, the movie emphasized the inviolability of free will, the inherent evil of government, the necessity of commitment in life, good versus evil, commitment versus neutrality, man versus machine, man versus government, youth versus maturity, and intellect versus intuition, to name some of the most prominent ones. The two readings by Martin and Althusser were definitely relatable to the movie because the readings were about a society where the government is a big machine that the people had to be at constant war with. The two readings and the movie connect to this idea of not being able to reach a utopian society as long as we have the language to communicate with others the way we wish to.
Works Cited
Martin, Randy. “Where Did The Future Go?”
https://webteach.csun.edu:31987/SCRIPT/ENGL312_13669-Wexler-Fa09/scripts/serve_home
Althusser, Louis. “Ideolgy and Ideological State Aparatusesses”. La Pense. 1970.
https://webteach.csun.edu:31987/SCRIPT/ENGL312_13669-Wexler-Fa09/scripts/serve_home
Sunday, September 20, 2009
My contribution to Orwell's "1984" group presentation
I was in the Orwell 1984 group where we presented about the different aspects of the story that made 1984 a great utopian book. My part of the presentation was based on the whole concept of, can we attain a utopian society if people have the language that enables them to self- identify themselves and know who they are and what they believe in? I tried proving that we can’t attain a utopian society because as we read in the 1984, there were many rebellious characters that stopped that from happening, for example Julia. I talked about the two female characters in 1984, Katherine and Julia. Katherine was Winston’s wife and was very loyal to the Party. Even when it came to sex, she would say things like it is our duty to the Party. Her character was not given any dialogue on behalf of the author because she represented totalitarianism; therefore, language is kept to a minimum. She has no identity/ personality and this why I thought of her as a person of the Party.
On the other hand, Julia represents the importance of language and the importance of knowing who you are. By being able to know her character means that the author gave her the language to showcase the importance of communicating. Julia was a risk taker, very rebellious, careless, sensual, experienced, and imperfect in every way. These imperfections are what make us human because without it we could be considered brainwashed robots that belong to the ones in control of the society. In my opinion, Orwell gives Julian’s character a feminist twist because of her rebellious characteristics. Considering the fact that the first wave of feminism started in the 1850’s (mostly through writings) and Orwell wrote 1984 in 1939, it seemed to me that he could have been very much influenced by the movement and used the feminist movements to highlight what it means to have free will, a strong personality, identity and most importantly how the use of language is what brings forth all of that mentioned above. Language allows us to create our thoughts, specifically thoughts about the self, which then allows us to be in control of our mind, body and soul. In conclusion, all this talk about feminism and language was to point out that as long as we are able to communicate with each other, we will never be able to attain a utopian society.
On the other hand, Julia represents the importance of language and the importance of knowing who you are. By being able to know her character means that the author gave her the language to showcase the importance of communicating. Julia was a risk taker, very rebellious, careless, sensual, experienced, and imperfect in every way. These imperfections are what make us human because without it we could be considered brainwashed robots that belong to the ones in control of the society. In my opinion, Orwell gives Julian’s character a feminist twist because of her rebellious characteristics. Considering the fact that the first wave of feminism started in the 1850’s (mostly through writings) and Orwell wrote 1984 in 1939, it seemed to me that he could have been very much influenced by the movement and used the feminist movements to highlight what it means to have free will, a strong personality, identity and most importantly how the use of language is what brings forth all of that mentioned above. Language allows us to create our thoughts, specifically thoughts about the self, which then allows us to be in control of our mind, body and soul. In conclusion, all this talk about feminism and language was to point out that as long as we are able to communicate with each other, we will never be able to attain a utopian society.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Orwell 1984
The Utopian thriller 1984, written by George Orwell gives the term “Utopia” a twist because the journey he takes the reader on is a place of perfection, but not the type of perfection that one wants to partake in. The tone of the author towards the society that they live in is a very negative one and makes it really clear that the idea of perfection can’t take place without execution, pain, suffering, isolation, and numbness of all kinds of emotions and thoughts. While reading the novel, I found myself getting really distressed and thinking to myself how inhumane people could be. Orwell describes how children would look forward to attending the events where executions would take place. This shows how the innocence of children, which is so innate, is diminished by this system called “Big Brother”- who is obsessed with controlling all the people in society every second of the day. Society has corrupted the people to a point where they even have their preferences as to how an execution takes place. This is revealed when Syme says, “it spoils it when they tie their feet together. I like to see them kicking…tongue sticking out- and blue” (Orwell 49-50). It makes you think, how inhumane a person has to be for them to enjoy the site of someone getting executed. This indicates how society has completely taken charge of their emotions and thoughts and replaced it with illiterate logic. “Big Brother” seemed like a very powerful influence, which reminded me of the same influence religion has in society. Most religions have the tendency to want to make all people as “good” or as “perfect” as possible. With these intentions comes control, consistency in structure, and the desire to be close to perfect beings. The intentions of “Big Brother” and religion now days is very parallel, only contrasting in how extreme their beliefs are when it comes to the concept of utopia.
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