After completing the novel "Feed", I had to ask myself whether or not I was caught up in the Feed. As mentioned in class, it is almost impossible to ignore the media and the 3,000 advertisements we see every day. But is there a way to "resist the feed?" Violet made fun of the feed on many accounts and sort of mocked the fact that Titus and his friends bought everything they saw. I find myself relating to Violet in that I understand that I do not need a lot of the things that other people buy or have. I personally do not have texting, I do not have an I pod, I typically only use the computer for school, and I do not buy myself new things unless I need them. I think it is important to distinguish between what we need and what we want, which is exactly what Violet was doing.
Thoreau definitely showed me that it is more important to live simply and appreciate nature for what it truly is. I believe at the end of the novel, Titus and his friends were getting better at resisting the feed, but it is extremely hard when it knows your interests, and your wants, maybe even before you know them yourselves. In my opinion I think Titus and all of his friends were kind of ridiculous when they were hacked in that they almost could not function because they lost the ability to use the feed. This made me think of the passage in "Culture Jam" where the post-modern family took a trip and rid themselves of technology and contact with the outside world. Has it really come to this? That we cannot live without technology? Starting tomorrow, I am going to spend an entire week without technology and in all honesty I am a little nervous. It is not that I use it a lot it is just the fact that I rely on it to communicate with others (family, friends, etc...). In today's society technology and the media are just a part of our everyday lives. What will make a difference is whether or not WE can "resist the feed."
Accomplishments
12 years ago
I agree that the only way to change the way technology and media rule our society is to resist. In the novel Violet resists the feed and mock it, as you said, and when it comes time for the corporations to pay for her repairs, they deny her because she did not buy enough off the feed and because she was mocking it. I believe if we do not change soon, it will be too late and everyone who does try to resist will end up like violet, with nothing to go off of.
ReplyDelete"it is extremely hard when [the Feed] knows your interests, and your wants, maybe even before you know them yourselves."
ReplyDeleteI wonder if our advertisers and creative marketers don't already "know" what we "want"--they spend a good deal of time (and money) learning how to "target" specific age groups in order to give them (the products) they want. It's a bit frightening to think about.
And, also, good luck as you begin your adventure into the quiet no-man's land of your non-technological experiment! You can do it!
That is a good question..how would we resist the feed? What could we do that would actually make a difference? Maybe its already too late? Titus and his friends bought things they saw advertised just because they were becoming the latest trend or fashion, but they weren't things they actually needed. The feed controlled them in this sense. The people in Feed could never live simply like Thoreau was stressing people to do. The world was too far gone...maybe we already are.
ReplyDeleteI think that the feed is already here!! With all the cell phone techology and computers advancing, we basically have a feed, just not installed in us. Titus and Marty and the rest of the gang definitly could not have been able to do anything close to what Thoreau did. They could hardly go for a couple days without the feed whenver they got hacked!! The feed is already here, and its only going to get more poeple and powerful!
ReplyDelete