Reading "Feed" after "Culture Jam" was definitely a strategic move on the part of Dr. Mortimore. It helped to set the stage for "Feed." "Culture Jam" awakened our senses to exactly what we are letting into our brains. "Feed" put a sci-fi fiction spin onto our reality. It showed you where we are headed if we continue to give up our power to think independently.
One disturbing part was the Schools(TM) system. The explanation was that basically the federal government was unable to keep the schools running in the intended way. As a solution big corporations took over and cleaned up the schools but also gained control over the curriculum. Titus said that in school they mostly just taught you how to use your feed. That idea is scary.
The reality is that our school systems are already in trouble. They are already short on money. Many of the schools now place ads in schools or serve commercial food in exchange for donations or gifts to the school. It is not publicized but it happens.
Even more scary then that was the bodily mutilation because it was "cool." I could not believe that oozing wounds could ever be "cool" no matter how many people had them. I feel Anderson definitely accomplished his goal of shocking the reader. He wanted you to make comparisons to your world. He wanted to draw attention to a lot of the negative fads we all fall accustomed too. The only way to accomplish that was to get the reader to say "I would never go that far to fit in."
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14 years ago
"The reality is that our school systems are already in trouble. They are already short on money. Many of the schools now place ads in schools or serve commercial food in exchange for donations or gifts to the school. It is not publicized but it happens."
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your focus on schools and the connections you made to our current public school systems. It's true that schools bring in a lot of extra funding by providing coke machines in their cafeterias or even selling brand-name snacks from popular fast-food restaurants. Even "Channel 1"--which I'm sure many of you were forced to watch in CLASS....(I'm not a fan of Channel 1) is all about exposing students to products, so they will buy buy buy....
*sigh*
I definately agree with how Culture Jam got us thinking more clearly so that we could make a nice transition into Feed. I honestly didn't get the part about the School TM system until you pointed it out here. But your point is very clear, and it shows what will happen if corporations take over the school system. However, I'd like to know where you got your facts for the 3rd paragraph.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it would be very good for anyone if corporations took over schools. My main question was "What interest does a corporation have in a school?" Also I find it sad that the only thing they were being taught in school was how to use their feeds,no wonder they rely on them for so much.
ReplyDeleteI liked your spin on bodily mutilation because it is something that happens in our schools today. As far as the corporations running the schools, I agree. The corporations in our society today already run parts of our government, even if we do not see it. I could see these big time business taking over a lot of what keeps us in tack today. Being a teacher this really scares me when I think of where our educational system is heading.
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