Showing posts with label Aldous_Huxely. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aldous_Huxely. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Movies and Sex
A movie that had quite a bit of influence on me was "Youth in Revolt" in the movie the protagonist develops an alter ego so that a certain girl will like him more. He does this in hopes that the girl will eventually have sex with him. Although the movie is a comedy it kept stamping sex, sex, sex over and over into my head. The movie basically made me feel like i had to have sex and soon. This connects with the "feelies" in Brave New World because they are around to make the people feel like they have to have sex, it is common and natural and disliking them the way John does is considered queer and antisocial. Both these movies make the watcher feel like sex is something that must be achieved and that not acheiving it is a failure.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Good Amateur Many Excitement Simulator
Aldous Huxley doesn't make enough references to the games being played in the Brave New World society. The only sure game, or more like a sport, is Obstacle Golf. In the society, you are conditioned into liking sports but hating the outdoors. This will essentially keep you focused on the game of Obstacle Golf and you will be less likely to be distracted by other things: beauty of the outdoors. This sort of conditioning will also allow you to be part of the group in the society. In other words, if you aren't playing games such as these, then you are not part of society and are missing out.
In our society, games, such as Guitar Hero III, are another form of conditioning. The game simulate how it is to be a rockstar in this example. The game makes you want to play and be focused to it all day and not pay any attention to anything else. It provides many excitements. The video show Slash, a famous guitarist, coming out of an average joe signifies that anybody can do this. Which brings us back to another point in Brave New World: anybody can play Golf in the Brave New World. It seems everyone would play Golf at some point in their life in the Brave New World society. The Guitar Hero III game may refer to the felies also. The commercial makes you believe that the game will give you the sensations of performing live at a concert. In our society, people want to get those type of sensations so they buy the game. What also may affect games is the amount of people playing the game. If enough people are playing a game, you convince yourself that the game is good and you do go out and buy. This is one way that you may find yourself trying to fit in. This has happened to me when I heard of the Halo game series. I thought it was just going to be a blowout but it wasn't. A whole bunch of people were playing and it became a hit. Naturally, I followed the crowd and became a fellow gamer in the series.
In our society, games, such as Guitar Hero III, are another form of conditioning. The game simulate how it is to be a rockstar in this example. The game makes you want to play and be focused to it all day and not pay any attention to anything else. It provides many excitements. The video show Slash, a famous guitarist, coming out of an average joe signifies that anybody can do this. Which brings us back to another point in Brave New World: anybody can play Golf in the Brave New World. It seems everyone would play Golf at some point in their life in the Brave New World society. The Guitar Hero III game may refer to the felies also. The commercial makes you believe that the game will give you the sensations of performing live at a concert. In our society, people want to get those type of sensations so they buy the game. What also may affect games is the amount of people playing the game. If enough people are playing a game, you convince yourself that the game is good and you do go out and buy. This is one way that you may find yourself trying to fit in. This has happened to me when I heard of the Halo game series. I thought it was just going to be a blowout but it wasn't. A whole bunch of people were playing and it became a hit. Naturally, I followed the crowd and became a fellow gamer in the series.
Media and our behavior
In Brave New World the citizens are encouraged to play sports such as obstacle golf. It is deemed as socially normal to play obstacle golf and anyone who doesn't play obstacle golf is anti-social, and marked off as odd.This is the case with Bernard Marx; he doesn't enjoy playing obstacle golf and because of that is labeled an outcast and a nuisance. In Brave New World the citizens are conditioned to like obstacle golf and are taught that the more apparatuses required in order to play a game the better, that's why they enjoy obstacle golf which is a very elaborate game which requires lots of different equipment.
Now, let us take a look at our own society and what it encourages. I'd like to mention specifically the play 60 tv add. It attempts to encourage children to go outside and engage in some physical exercise at least sixty minutes everyday, the organization hopes that if children play sixty minutes everyday the obesity rate in children will decline, and the average health of children will increase.
The two examples I used are on two completely different ends of the spectrum, while one encourages specific behavior the other disproves of certain behavior, but both show how the media and our society's attitude towards things affect our decisions. In the case of Brave New World not playing obstacle golf is discouraged and for that reason people play it because they don't wish to upset the "natural order" of things. In the case of play 60 children are encouraged to do a certain thing because it's ultimately better for them.
Now, let us take a look at our own society and what it encourages. I'd like to mention specifically the play 60 tv add. It attempts to encourage children to go outside and engage in some physical exercise at least sixty minutes everyday, the organization hopes that if children play sixty minutes everyday the obesity rate in children will decline, and the average health of children will increase.
The two examples I used are on two completely different ends of the spectrum, while one encourages specific behavior the other disproves of certain behavior, but both show how the media and our society's attitude towards things affect our decisions. In the case of Brave New World not playing obstacle golf is discouraged and for that reason people play it because they don't wish to upset the "natural order" of things. In the case of play 60 children are encouraged to do a certain thing because it's ultimately better for them.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Helmholtz Watson Relation
"This Escalator-Squash champion, this indefatigable lover (it was said that he had had six hundred and forty different girls in under four years), this admirable committee man and best mixer had realized quite suddenly that sport, women, communal activities were only, so far as he was concerned, second bests. Really, and at the bottom, he was interested in something else. But in what? In what? That was the problem which Bernard had come to discuss with him–or rather, since it was always Helmholtz who did all the talking, to listen to his friend discussing, yet once more." (pg. 67 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)
Helmholtz has realized that he is smarter than the average Alpha plus in the society. He is thinking more and wants more out of life. I'm not saying that I'm smarter than the averaged person, but I do think a lot. Sometimes when I can't sleep, I just lay in bed and think about everything. I even think about how life can be boring and I want more than that. I even think of ways to make life more interesting. I don't think I will never be satisfied because in reality, I don't know what to do or think of. I don't think he and I will be satisfied with the things we have and want more. I think this is due to the fact that society wants us to do something and expects us to repeat the process until we die. For example, I have been at school for the last 12 years or my life and I'm going for 5 more years. I feel like I want something else like he does.
Helmholtz has realized that he is smarter than the average Alpha plus in the society. He is thinking more and wants more out of life. I'm not saying that I'm smarter than the averaged person, but I do think a lot. Sometimes when I can't sleep, I just lay in bed and think about everything. I even think about how life can be boring and I want more than that. I even think of ways to make life more interesting. I don't think I will never be satisfied because in reality, I don't know what to do or think of. I don't think he and I will be satisfied with the things we have and want more. I think this is due to the fact that society wants us to do something and expects us to repeat the process until we die. For example, I have been at school for the last 12 years or my life and I'm going for 5 more years. I feel like I want something else like he does.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Everyday Conditioning
“The swiftest crawlers were already at their goal. Small hands reached out uncertainly, touched, grasped, unpetaling the transfigured roses, crumpling the illuminated pages of the books. The Director waited until all were happily busy. The, “Watch carefully” he said. And, lifting his hand, he gave the signal. The Head Nurse, who was standing by a switchboard at the other end of the room, pressed down a little lever. There was a violent explosion. Shriller and even shriller, a siren shrieked. Alarm bells maddeningly sounded. The children started, screamed; their faces were distorted with terror.” (Huxely 20-21)
This is how the community in Brave New World “conditions” the newborns. In this particular instance the babies are given electric shock therapy. They are presented with flowers and books and once they begin to play with the books and flowers they are shocked, this process is repeated many times so that the lesson is imprinted into their minds.
Today in the real world we are also conditioned, although it is nowhere near as extreme. We are conditioned in the sense that we are lead to believe that money is essential. We are told to do well in school so that we may make more money. How smart we are is shown in our grades which in itself aren’t an accurate representation of intelligence. We are told that in order for us to make lots of money we have to go to a good college. College cost money, so once we finish college we owe someone money, and the only way to pay off that money is to spend the majority of your life working. Even if someone doesn’t go to college they might buy a car or a house. Either way the average person owes money. In this sense we are conditioned.
This is how the community in Brave New World “conditions” the newborns. In this particular instance the babies are given electric shock therapy. They are presented with flowers and books and once they begin to play with the books and flowers they are shocked, this process is repeated many times so that the lesson is imprinted into their minds.
Today in the real world we are also conditioned, although it is nowhere near as extreme. We are conditioned in the sense that we are lead to believe that money is essential. We are told to do well in school so that we may make more money. How smart we are is shown in our grades which in itself aren’t an accurate representation of intelligence. We are told that in order for us to make lots of money we have to go to a good college. College cost money, so once we finish college we owe someone money, and the only way to pay off that money is to spend the majority of your life working. Even if someone doesn’t go to college they might buy a car or a house. Either way the average person owes money. In this sense we are conditioned.
Conditioning
"The swiftest crawlers were already at their goal. Small hands reached out uncertainly, touched, grasped, unpetaling the transfigured roses, crumpling the illuminated pages of the books. The Director waited until all were happily busy. Then, 'Watch carefully,' he said. And, lifting his hand, he gave the signal.
The Head Nurse, who was standing by a switchboard at the other end of the room, pressed down a little lever.
There was a violent explosion. Shriller and ever shriller, a siren shrieked. Alarm bells maddeningly sounded.
The nurses obeyed; but at the approach of the roses, at the mere sight of those gaily-coloured images of pussy and cock-a-doodle-doo and baa-baa black sheep, the infants shrank away in horror, the volume of their howling suddenly increased." (pgs.20-21) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Books and flowers were placed in a room. The Director brought in a line of babies who crawled to the flowers and books. A nurse immediately pulled a switch that shocked all the babies. When the babies were lined up again with the books and on the other side, they were filled with horror. What a scene this was. These are babies being conditioned to hate the outdoors and books by using shock therapy. In the Brave New World, humans are constantly being conditioned. In our world, you are conditioned without knowing it. You are told to behave in certain ways by using rules. Of course, it isn't as bad as using shock therapy. There are other examples in the real world. If you eat a bad apple, you acquire a bad memory. This will affect how you will act when you see another apple. If someone else offers you another apple 1 week later, you will have said no thanks because you would have remembered the last bad apple you ate.
The Head Nurse, who was standing by a switchboard at the other end of the room, pressed down a little lever.
There was a violent explosion. Shriller and ever shriller, a siren shrieked. Alarm bells maddeningly sounded.
The nurses obeyed; but at the approach of the roses, at the mere sight of those gaily-coloured images of pussy and cock-a-doodle-doo and baa-baa black sheep, the infants shrank away in horror, the volume of their howling suddenly increased." (pgs.20-21) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Books and flowers were placed in a room. The Director brought in a line of babies who crawled to the flowers and books. A nurse immediately pulled a switch that shocked all the babies. When the babies were lined up again with the books and on the other side, they were filled with horror. What a scene this was. These are babies being conditioned to hate the outdoors and books by using shock therapy. In the Brave New World, humans are constantly being conditioned. In our world, you are conditioned without knowing it. You are told to behave in certain ways by using rules. Of course, it isn't as bad as using shock therapy. There are other examples in the real world. If you eat a bad apple, you acquire a bad memory. This will affect how you will act when you see another apple. If someone else offers you another apple 1 week later, you will have said no thanks because you would have remembered the last bad apple you ate.
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