M.T. Anderson’s Feed
presents a fictional world in which technology has taken over the inner
workings of humanity, and in doing so radically alters the ways in which life
is lived. The novel is highly
technical—there are lots of references to faux-cultural ideas, gleaned only
through their repeated presence rather than a direct explanation. This, combined with the diction seemingly
intended to appeal to the target audience of ages fourteen and up, make Feed a disjointing and confusing read at
best. Beyond these stylistic
disconnects, Anderson makes incredibly potent social commentaries, and deeply
explores the idea of authority and, conversely, the idea of resistance.
Throughout the first half of the novel, Anderson creates the
typically dystopian world seen in other works like George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. There are droves of people completely
influenced by a government/corporate center, as seen in the actual feeds each
character experiences. Though these
feeds don’t directly dictate behavior, as would be the case in other novels of
this ilk, the feeds allow an outside source a large amount of contact and power
within these characters’ lives. This
concept is most addressed in the scene where Violet and Titus go to the mall, and
Violet presents her counter-culture ideas of resisting the feed. Up until this point, the feed isn’t
necessarily bad—the characters accept the feed, not considering its power. Violet breaks this trend though, when she
explains how the feed tries “‘to make you conform to one of their types’”[1]
(Anderson 97). This notion of
individuality establishes Violet’s rejection of authority, further illustrated
by Titus’ response of “‘That’s the feed. So what?’”[1]
(Anderson 97). His compliance with this
type of control as ordinary constructs the absoluteness of the authority in the
novel. His lack of interest in Violet’s
“complicating” and “resisting”1 separates the two characters on a
fundamental acceptance of dominance (Anderson 99).
In the scene where Titus and his friends decide to cheat the
Coca-Cola feed and all chant so as to receive free products, the characters
exhibit a sense of anti-establishment. He
explains, “it was a chance to rip off the corporations,” [1] showcasing
a sense of distrust in those institutions (Anderson 158). However, in a different scene, Titus refutes
this and offers one of the most ominous passages of the first half of the
novel. In discussing the idea of school,
and how it is run by corporations, he remarks, “that way we know the big corps
are made up of real human beings,” whom “care about America’s future” [1]
(Anderson 110). Reading this novel as a
social commentary brings strong attention to this passage, as Titus presents a
troubling viewpoint on the acceptance of authority, especially when compared to
realistic notions of this idea.
I thought it was interesting that the only attempt the group of friends makes to try to use the feed for their own purposes (trying to get free Coke) resulted in them going out and buying Coke, just as the corporations controlling the feed would have them do.
ReplyDeleteI loved the commentary this novel made on education, both its value and its perceived lack of value. Violet's dad is a college professor, poorly paid and living on the ground floor of society. Teachers are well known to be poorly paid and under-esteemed in our society as well. And what happens when you devalue education? What happens when you allow education to be co-opted by corporate interests? The corporations use it for their own interests: to create perfect consumers. Today, we have corporations running schools, even whole networks of charters. Is the society of feed truly where we are headed? That is the terrible thought that Anderson suggests to his readers.