Consumer Culture and Progressive Technology in M.t. Anderson’s Novel Feed
In a not-so-distant future, where lesions are “meg brag” and advertisements premiere in consumer’s minds, a dystopia exists, radically conditioned upon the use of technology. This reliance is attributed to the feed – a brain implant that functions as a futuristic version of the internet. With this device, individuals have total access to features such as web navigation, chatting, and shopping all within their mind. Despite the expediency of this enhancement, Feed is written with a motive to warn readers of the effects of irresponsibly using technology. In M.T. Anderson’s Feed, Anderson’s satire of consumerism coupled with Violet’s expiry, critically and unfavorably responds to the collapse of agency within a capitalistic system. Ultimately, Feed invites its readers to perceive the carnage of individualism and critical thinking in the presence of an info-age economy.
Framed in a society where technology is the norm, one would expect the use of technology to function as an aid rather than a supplement to critical thinking and expression. Throughout the novel, the feed’s influence routinely diminishes Titus’s ability to reason. While boasting about the feed’s capabilities, he naively vaunts, “You can look things up automatic, like science and history, like if you want to know which battles of the Civil War George Washington fought in and shit”. Titus’s inaccurate attribution of George Washington in the Civil War references situational irony. Despite possessing immediate access to information, Titus’s remark signals a deep lack of knowledge that is comparable to people who do not possess the advantages of the feed. His lack of language commandment is explicit within this quote. Through the presence of the feed, Titus’s speech has de-evolved to informality, often using slang and profanities as substitutes for formal language conventions. Titus’s inability to reason is further illustrated through his reaction to Violet’s deterioration. Rather than lamenting or submitting into a fit of rage, Titus chooses to express his despair through a familiar outlet: “I ordered the draft pants from Multitude. It was a real bargain. I ordered another pair. I ordered pair after pair. I ordered them all in the same color. They were slate” . This choice of expression is the result of a dominant consumer culture. As such, Titus is reduced to a buyer rather than an individual with sensitivity and perception. Titus’s formulation to redress his emotions through consumerism defines the ultimate jurisdiction that capitalism possesses in order to confound the natural ability of emotional expression. Further, the language is overwhelmingly basic and rote, mimicking Titus’s repetitive actions. While choosing to express his emotions through consumerism, his descriptions of the pants are suspiciously resonant of an advertisement. Though racked with a form of despair, his brain still regards commercialism as a cardinal concern.
The feed’s symbolization of technology’s potential is a reminder of its corresponding influences over individual agency. Marketers are able to divert the mass’s concern of their lesions to encompass an unnerving appreciation for these wounds. Upon meeting Violet, Titus observes, “Violet was standing near the fountain and she had a real low shirt on, to show off her lesion, because the stars of the Oh? Wow! Thing! had started to get lesions, so now people were thinking better about lesions, and lesions even looked kind of cool”. This newfound admiration for lesions was originally suppressed by the character’s embarrassment and distress over the cuts. The evolution of their perspectives signals a concern that stems from a lack of command in critical construct. By depicting this change in interest, M.T. Anderson critiques consumer’s simplistic ability to be swayed over matters such as celebrity endorsement. Titus’s dialogue further signals his easily persuasive nature. His comment that, “…lesions even looked kind of cool”, suggests that he is not utterly convinced, but has decided to shoulder a publically formed opinion as his own. Titus’s apparent lack of critical thinking is further documented during his encounter with Violet at the mall. She informs him of her ongoing experiment drafted on the basis of the feed’s marketing technique. Titus responds, “This was the kind of thing people talked about a lot, like, parents were going on about how toys were stupid now, when they used to be good, and how everything on the feed had its price, and okay, it might be true, but it’s also boring, so I was like, ‘Yeah. Okay. That’s the feed. So what?’”. Titus’s transparency in denouncing the feed’s capitalism is indicative of a limited perspective subjected by marketing. His accelerated process of acknowledging the feed’s flaws and subsequent dismissal is representative of M.T. Anderson’s satire of modern day consumers. This similar lack of suspicion is suspended when technology is advancing to track buyer’s internet footprint in order to advertise products similar to what content the consumer has previously browsed. Titus’s lack of confrontation to the feed addresses the need for convenience rather than its potential harmful effects. His attribution of this situation as “boring” further reinforces the lack of critical thinking in the face of uncertainty and danger. In this science-fictional world, M.T. Anderson paints consumers as void of intelligence due to the ease of technology and quick to denounce extremity too complicated to lend further thought to. Throughout the novel, Violet acts as a source of optimism against the capitalistic system of Feed; yet, her resistance to the feed ends in her death, suggesting the victorious nature of consumerism’s dominant culture. While petitioning for Violet to receive free repairs for her feed, Titus observes, “They said that FeedTech had to, because it was about the life of a girl. Her feed’s warranty had expired years ago”. The identification of a warranty within the same context as Violet’s life, references the recurrent theme of capitalism. Violet’s life is not entirely independent from the corporations; rather her survival is dictated by them. By attributing her well-being as being “backed” by a warranty, Violet’s life is correlated to that of a shelved product. Violet’s deterioration after her rejection enables her grieving father to lecture an insensitive Titus: “We Americans,” he said, ‘are interested only in the consumption of our products. We have no interest in how they were produced, or what happens to them’ – he pointed at his daughter – ‘what happens to them once we discard them, once we throw them away’”. Violet’s father alludes to Titus disposing her in similar fashion to those who abandon non-functioning technology. This reference contemplates the alteration that the feed possess on individuals. Titus and the corporation have denounced Violet’s life as an object that deems insignificant investment value. Ultimately, Violet’s untraditional, yet purposeful death as a protagonist champions the dictatorship that consumerism has against even those that attempt to resist it.
M.T. Anderson’s Feed poses an exaggerated situation within the framework of progressive technology. His novel not only serves as a critique, but a warning to consumers in the 21st century. Consumer culture in Feed amounted to individuals deprived of critical thinking in order to plot their next financial move. This lifestyle parodies modern day inhabitants on their dependence for convenience in technology. Though M.T. Anderson does not radically champion the suspension of such use, he aims to reveal that technology has indeed infiltrated our belief system to promote itself as a necessity in our lives. Progressing onward, the reliance on such a belief will eventually come to dictate our society, such as how M.T. Anderson dictated Titus’s society.
