Thomas More’s Utopia, written in 1516, gave the name to the corresponding genre in literature. The influence of this book in the following centuries cannot be overestimated. A whole series of works dedicated to the image of a perfect society followed Utopia (Wilde 27). Its legacy can be traced in many social and moral-aesthetic utopias and dystopias of the subsequent centuries. One of the most famous ones is Tommaso Campanella’s The City of the Sun which occupies a significant place in the history of social ideas. It is perhaps the most totalitarian of all utopias, according to which, all troubles and crimes are from private property and the family (Wilde 36). More’s ideas can be traced in the works of Karl Marx as well. In 1848, Marx and Engels published The Communist Manifesto, an utopian program that had a decisive influence on the fate of the 20th century (Olkusz et al. 20). It ended the two-thousand-year history of utopian projects and began its new stage, offering an accurate plan for rebuilding the world.
Traces of More’s Utopia can be found in the books of some later dystopian writers such as Aldous Huxley and George Orwell. Their works are associated with the conflict between the personality and the social environment, which tends to erase individuality in a person. Utopia’s legacy can be also found in the works of modern writers such as Margaret Atwood (Olkusz et al. 20). In her novel The Handmaid’s Tale, the dystopian tradition of depicting violence against a person is further embodied and developed: the main character is deprived of all rights and property, and her existence is reduced to reproductive function (Olkusz et al. 20). Thus, the authors of all projects of an ideal society proceeded from a person’s ability to self-improvement, but they always involved coercion, with the help of which the resistance of a person should be overcome.
Works Cited
Olkusz, Ksenia, Michał Kłosiński, and Krzysztof M. Maj, eds. More After More: Essays Commemorating the Five-Hundredth Anniversary of Thomas More’s Utopia. Vol. 1. Ośrodek Badawczy Facta Ficta, 2017.
Wilde, Lawrence. Thomas More’s Utopia: Arguing for Social Justice. Taylor & Francis, 2016.
“The Pedestrian” By Ray Bradbury
Introduction
The onset of the 21st century has brought on unimaginable and unprecedented leaps in commercial technology which has been woven into the very fabric of society. If 20 years ago few adults, let alone children had a cellphone, and 10 years ago, social media was a fun gimmick, both are now the very core of the social dogma, placed into the hands of even young children. However, despite all the connectivity and social entertainment, people are seemingly more drawn apart than ever before, each in their own device. Technology and mass media entertainment are tools of conformity and control that eventually, both individuality and the need to govern are eliminated.
Main body
Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” creates a dystopian and inherently antisocial society in which mass media via television envelops everyone in society. Bradbury creates a juxtaposition that the next generations will continue to become engrossed in their personal technology, ceasing to pay attention to the world around them. The dystopian element to this story is not that individuals enjoy watching television, it is the fact that it has become a uniform activity (potentially used for control) which supresses thought, belief, and observation. It dehumanizes the very human elements in people by creating an illusion of the emotions and experiences via television.
“The Pedestrian” was written in 1951, when televisions just began to appear in homes on a massive scale, but fast forwarding 2-3 generations later, and the resemblance, at least in ideology, is uncanny. Smartphones are prevalent everywhere, in every social occasion or venturing. Most people watch a concert or fireworks through the recording camera of the smartphone to share later on social media, while the newest generation of kids prefers virtual realities rather than playing outside. It is conformity at unprecedented levels in some societies – and deviation from it, such as limiting smartphone or social media use is oftentimes viewed as strange, even resulting in social disconnection. The story tells the consequences of a society dependent on technology, and how technology will become the central factor of control over human society.
Not much is told about the government present in the dystopia of “The Pedestrian.” It has eerie parallels to another of Bradbury’s novels “Fahrenheit 451” where similarly the population was engaged in their ‘talking walls’ of television media, while anyone who chose to read or behave uniquely, was brutally arrested. It is well-known that media and entertainment has been always been used by those in power to control and instil ideology. In a world where the population engages in nothing else but the media, there is nothing left to do but control the dissidents.
Amazingly, in the “The Pedestrian” this is not even done by humans, but by police robots, “as he passed the front window of the car he looked in. As he had expected, there was no one in the front seat, no one in the car at all” (Bradbury, 1). In the film version, Meade remarks with irony, that the government could all be dead for all they know, while the robots continue to go around patrolling the streets. Referring back to dependence of society on technology, the dystopian future could very well be the technology controlling humanity. Except the irony is that in a scenario like that, it will not be a brave war of humans against the machines as shown in Hollywood movies. It would be a quiet succumbing of humans to their own desires and media devices, where we become slaves to the very technology which was meant to enrich our lives and bring us together.
Conclusion
There are numerous benefits to technology, but at the societal level, driven by the industries of social and mass media, it has become a tool of conformity. Technology is so rapidly developing, that people are unable to determine its impacts. However, despite being bombarded with information, people become less intelligent, losing focus and memory; despite being interconnected on social media, people are more secluded and private in a physical sense. Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” provides a chilling warning for society if it follows this trajectory, becoming a shadow of humanity while under control of technology and those who yield it.
Work Cited
Bradbury, Ray. The Pedestrian. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1954. Web.
Fast-Food Industry’s Influences On Children
The growth of restaurant chains offering fast food is not a new trend in the United States. The thoughtless consumption of junk food by common Americans and giant corporations’ marketing efforts are widely criticized by activists and researchers. The potential problems associated with the industry’s influences on children include aggressive marketing, limited efforts to make food more appropriate for developing learners, and the risks of unhealthy eating habits.
Aggressive and ubiquitous marketing of fast food cannot go unnoticed by children due to their natural curiosity. In the article titled “What We Eat,” Schlosser (2012) reviews this problematic aspect of the fast-food industry. According to survey research, around 96% of school-age American children can easily identify Ronald McDonald, which makes the symbol of McDonald’s “more widely recognized than the Christian cross” (Schlosser, 2012, p. 4). Some would probably find Schlosser’s argument to be an exaggeration, but there are personal examples to demonstrate the increased impact of fast food commercials on children’s mindset and knowledge. My cousin works as a primary school teacher and has noticed that her students easily recollect famous songs from fast food commercials, including “Two All-Beef Patties,” whereas remembering other educational songs can be problematic. Considering this, junk food advertising affects children to a large extent, which indicates its growing cultural power.
Another challenge is that the youngest customers’ unique nutritional needs are not always reflected in offerings for kids. Schlosser (2012) highlights that fast-food meals are heavily advertised to children but are designed and prepared by people who are “barely older than children” (p. 9). For instance, McDonald’s Happy Meal is advertised as a relatively healthy menu option for children. However, when visiting the restaurant with my friend and her seven-year-old son, I have noticed that chicken McNuggets and French fries in the meal are not substantially different from what is intended for older consumers. They are similar to regular menu options in terms of fat, salt, and flavor-intensifying components, whereas the most obvious change is the serving size. It is doubtful that the concept of fast-food restaurants is compatible with the developing organism’s nutritional needs, such as a wide variety of fresh vegetables and steamed and boiled foods.
The possible influence of fast food on children’s eating habits is also problematic. As Schlosser (2012) states, “much of the taste and aroma of American fast food… is now manufactured at large chemical plants” (p. 7). Schlosser’s discussion does not pay enough attention to the fact that flavor intensifiers can be used outside the fast-food industry as well. However, there are real-life examples to point to junk food’s potential role in the formation of food addictions in children. Particularly, after trying McDonald’s classic burger for the first time, one of my youngest relatives concluded that home-cooked meat and vegetable meals were not that tasty and even refused to eat them for some time. Therefore, the industry’s impact on children’s attitudes to food and the culture of nutrition may require close consideration.
To sum up, the industry’s influences on children deserve special attention and research from the viewpoint of health. The excessive advertising of fast food targeted at children and the inability to introduce actually healthy menu options for young consumers are unlikely to promote health. Moreover, fast food is supposed to be tastier than regular home-cooked meals, which may affect children’s dietary choices and eating behaviors.
Reference
Schlosser, E. (2012). What we eat. In Fast-food nation: The dark side of the all-American meal (pp. 3-10). Mariner Books.