Option D
Mind Control by Stephen Marley
https://youtu.be/t32mIx6NzUg
Corruption of your thoughts, yeah, destruction of your soul
Don’t let them mold your mindThey wanna control mankindSeems like their only intentionIs to exploit the Earth, heyAnd you trust in their deceitYour mind causes your defeatAnd so you become an inventionTo distort this Earth
Propaganda and liesIs a plague in our livesHow much more victimizedBefore we realize, hey
It’s mind control, mind control
"They try to figure out who you are and to make you conform to one of their types for easy marketing. It's like a spiral: they keep making things more basic so it will appeal to everyone. And gradually everyone gets used to everything being basic so we get less and less varied as people, more simple." Violet pg 97
The Feed is sending advertisements about movie trailers, dance clubs, products, and "feed casts". These happen in short bursts and randomly. This is a form of mind control. They are trying to fit everyone into neat little boxes by getting them to conform to what Violet call "being basic." I put a few lines of the song "Mind Control" in this post to show the connection to the book: "Propaganda and lies is a plague in our lives/how much more victimized, before we realize, hey, it's mind control." Violet has figured it out and she tries to defy being sorted into a box of conformity. She tries to explain it to but no one believes her. She works the Feed so they can't "catalog" her and she becomes invisible. The whole book is about consumerism and the power media had over our minds. Between advertisements and political news, the facts that we receive are many times only the version those in power want us to hear. It is quite scary to be able to draw such close parallels to current times. I believe if Violet had been compliant she wouldn't have died in the end. Nina specifically said she wouldn't be a reliable investment and no one was interested in her petition for repair. Even when offered the chance, she still declines. She would rather die and be free than to be held a prisoner in her own mind.
This song choice is a nice addition to our soundtrack for Feed because it focuses more on the propaganda and the lies than just on the advertising. It's true that we see in Feed, and in our daily lives, lies coming from the advertisers, but it does not end there. In Feed, and in our lives, we also see and hear speeches from world leaders that are riddled with lies. In part, the warning of Feed is for us to be more discerning consumers, not just of products but also of information. I agree with your comment at the end that Violet could likely have survived if she has been a better consumer. I guess the question is would that have been a happier ending?
ReplyDelete