Feed may be centered around the lives of a teenage group but I think the book has a larger intended audience. Its point is to deliver a story that will evoke the minds of all people, old and young, to be more aware of the chaos happening around them. Its to tear them out of their little bubbles and to help them gain a wider perspective of the world.
I think it was very clever of the author to create a futuristic society that parallels our own world, where readers are given a sense of freedom to judge the characters and the situations objectively (but in fact, they are judging themselves and the own world they live in). He portrays our world in a different environment to make it easier for us to criticize the different aspects in "their" society such as digital obsession, consumerism, propaganda, pollution etc. What may seem as an exaggeration in the book to us may be seen in the same way by older generations regarding our own generation.
I think Art is both a mirror and a hammer. It reflects a situation using a different angle of perspective to get a point across. Good art is something that will jolt its audience out of their current mind frames and force them to think and perceive the world in a different direction. It will have enough influence to make its audience want to change. In Feed's case, the book is a piece of art that wakes us up from our digital slumber parties and gets us into thinking what this world has become, how it happened, and where it's going to lead us. Its reflection of us is one that is disgusting. This new found awareness towards the downfall of the world (or at least the nation) today should be enough to make us want to change and reshape our society. So in this case, Feed is both a mirror and a hammer.
Tobin is seen to bring out all these problems but doesn't offer any solution. I don't think that a solution or a resolving scene in the book is necessary because Tobin's goal was to create awareness. He's encouraging us to do something about it but he isn't here to tell us what to do. We have to figure out for ourselves how we want the world to be and how we want to shape it.
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Your informal research was very informant and allows me to think more about how outside viewers on this topic think. You show many good points in your thoughts and some good points in your summary's that normal people won't see. you said that there was a "show" to catch these "old creeps". This means that the "old creeps" can watch the show and improve on how they hide themselves. There is a good and a bad to everything and nothing is totally pure. i love how you keep talking about how these men or women spend a lot of time to seduce these "kids" and to make twist the minds of children to their will. all these different things these "old creeps" used to lure "kids". It shows how the internet is like a "second identity" for the "old creeps". maybe if you think about it they want to want the lives they never had. who knows since no one has gotten their opinion.
ReplyDeleteIn your experiment it is really funny how you are showing the common reason for commercials, its for people to take a break from watching and to come back to real world and do some things. This is a really good experiment that people should try and see what they think, but i wish the experiment was longer than you would see yourself change your habits over time as you multitask.
When you look at feed it is funny how you view it as "America" and not the whole world, since now that i realize it that the world itself is corrupted and that nothing can stand in its way from falling into a shallow grave like feed. You have a lot of really strong points on what you think about the book and as you said "Feed expresses, what you're told may not always be the truth. Corrupted acts are constant patterns that come up in those with power whether it be the government or top notched corporations. M.T. Anderson is trying to tell us is to be more aware of our surroundings. Don't settle for the government to do all the work for you, be a part of the power and take matters into your own hands." that is shown clearly with he world today, how the people rely on Obama to get things done but he is just one man and one man can't do a lot with over 300million mind controlled slaves puppet ed by this digital world.
When you think about it Feed is a piece of art but, on the other hand your line of "I think Art is both a mirror and a hammer. It reflects a situation using a different angle of perspective to get a point across. Good art is something that will jolt its audience out of their current mind frames and force them to think and perceive the world in a different direction." is proving Feed wrong since it doesn't show other ways and reflect on this one solid point of view, and he is offering no solution by making himself the bad guy. it can't be a mirror or a hammer since the opposite side is never found and the nail to strike on is not there.
I really like reading all your post and think about them for what to say, i would like to read more of your work. ^^