There are many interesting social psychology concepts which allow for an authority such as Adolf Hitler to eventually persuade the majority of Germans to support his genocide. Although it is frightening, a number of these very phenomena are a part of everyday life. Thankfully they do not necessarily lead to destructive behavior. James Waller describes the “Binding Factors of the Group” to be the encompassing title describing the causes of irrational behavior. By nature humans desire to be a member of a group and for that group to maintain authority or power. For this reason members of the Nazi party allowed themselves to act as they did, not because of their moral beliefs and ideologies, but because of the applied strategies which pushed for the group to act a certain way, not the individual. The three “Binding Factors of the Group” include Diffusion of Responsibility, Deindividuation, and Conformity to Peer Pressure. By diffusing responsibility, the individual does not blame themselves for their actions, but the group and the authority of the group. This is the reason why bystanders do not often rush to help others in trouble when many of them could. Everyone assumes that someone else will act or take control. In certain groups, deindividuation is mandatory, especially in military regimes. This is the idea that an individual can only be identified as a member of that group. Not only does this support camaraderie within the group, but also creates anonymity to outsiders. It is easy for rioters to act as they do when all others are acting in a similar manner. Finally, because individuals often conform to peer pressure, members of a group to avoid embarrassment, ridicule, etc. people will act out of character in order to retain their place in a popular (or powerful) group. Delillo specifically incorporated Adolf Hitler as a critical piece of the story because of how he managed to form a mass culture of Germany which also appears as
an aspect of life his main character interacts with throughout the novel.
Central to the thematic elements incorporated in Don DeLillo’s White Noise is the idea of the pervasiveness of television and advertising in the post-modern world. Throughout the book, the Gladney family experiences this bombardment in a variety of mediums and settings that appear innocuous, however, the reader is reminded constantly of the presence of these forms of stimulation leading to the conclusion that whatever good comes from them are overshadowed by the negative. Emblematic of this concept occurs when DeLillo writes “It seemed to me that Babette and I, in the mass and variety our purchases, in the sheer plenitude those crowded bags suggested, the weight and size and number, the familiar package designs and vivid lettering, the giant sizes, the family bargain packs with Day-Glo sale stickers, in the sense of replenishment we felt, the sense of well-being, the security and contentment these products brought to some snug home in our souls,” (DeLillo 20). Here, Jack Gladney expresses the feeling of happiness and contentment that the packages and brands bring to him and his family, which illuminates DeLillo’s idea that our senses are bent to the constant pull of the brand, logo, and packaging. Again, this pervasive intrusion of the unconscious is exemplified by the quote “She seemed to think that if kids watched television one night a week with parents or stepparents, the effect would be to de-glamorize the medium in their eyes, make it wholesome domestic sport. Its narcotic undertow and eerie diseased brain-sucking power would be gradually reduced,” (DeLillo 16). Today, this enveloping immersion of television and advertising is even more prevalent with the popularity of brand placement in video games. In a recent study conducted among 2453 girls ages 11 and 17, researchers found that “confrontation with interactive brand placement in the game resulted in more positive attitudes toward the game, higher top of mind awareness of the brand, more positive brand images, and more favorable behavioral intentions,” (Van Reijmersdal et al.). Remarkable as these findings are, the overwhelming facts remain that advertising and media will continue to be a dominant force today and in the future as Don DeLillo advocates in White Noise.
DeLillo also deals with the issue of death or more specifically a fear of death in White Noise. In O.H. Green’s paper “Fear of Death” he quotes Bernard Williams as saying, “To want something, we may also say, is to that extent to have reason for resisting what excludes that thing: and death certainly does that, for a very large range of things that one wants. If that is right then for any of those things, wanting something itself gives one a reason for avoiding death” (Green 100). Here we see that desires may be a cause for a fear of death. Jack clearly has a fear of death in this novel. He obsesses about the idea and it becomes clear that this fear stems from his wanting to be a part of a group. This is exhibited when he and his wife are looking through photo albums in bed when he states,
Children wincing in the sun, women in sun hats, men shading their eyes from the glare as if the past possessed some quality of light we no longer experience, a Sunday dazzle that caused people in their churchgoing clothes to tighten their faces and stand at an angle to the future, somewhat averted it seemed, wearing fixed and fine-drawn smiles, skeptical of something in the nature of the box camera. Who will die first? (DeLillo 30).
Here we see as he describes the people in the photo album that he is afraid of being alone. He does not want his wife to die, join the people who are long gone in the photo album and leave him alone. This idea of being a part of a group relating to death is brought up again,
There must have been something different about those crowds. What was it? Let me whisper the terrible word, from the Old English, from the Old German, from the Old Norse. Death. Many of those crowds were assembled in the name of death. They were there to attend tributes to the dead. Processions, songs, speeches, dialogues with the dead, recitations of the names of the dead. They were there to see pyres and flaming wheels, thousands of flags dipped in salute, thousands of uniformed mourners. There were ranks and squadrons, elaborate backdrops, blood banners and black dress uniforms. Crowds came to form a shield against their own dying. To become a crowd is to keep out death. To break off from the crowd is to risk death as an individual, to face dying alone. Crowds came for this reason above all others. They were there to be a crowd (DeLillo 73).
Here he again brings up the idea of loneliness about facing death alone and the idea that one can ward off death as part of a crowd. Jack does not want to be alone and face death alone so he fears death but he also fears the loneliness that comes with death. An example of this is the passage Kyle references in the last paragraph on page 20 where Jack is very happy to buy things and be a consumer, but it seems he is also happy to be a part of mass culture. Jack feels that by being a part of a crowd he can avoid death and loneliness.
Works Cited
Green, O.H. "Fear of Death." Philosophical and Phenomenological Research 43.1 (Sep., 1982): 99-105.
Van Reijmersdal et al. “The effects of interactive brand placements in online games on children’s cognitive, affective, and conative brand responses.” Computers in Human Behavior 26.6 (2010): 1787-1794.
Waller, James. "What Is the Immediate Social Context? A Culture of Cruelty." Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing. New York: Oxford UP, 2002. NetLibrary. Web. 16 Nov. 2010.
In DeLillo’s description of “the day of the station wagons” can be compared to the later image of displaced families fleeing from the toxic air pollution with their belongings. On page 121 DeLillo writes, “Slowly we approached an overpass, seeing people on foot up there. They carried boxes and suitcases, objects in blankets, a long line of people leaning into the blowing snow. People cradling pets and small children, an old man wearing a blanket over his pajamas, two women shouldering a rolled up rug.” To me this passage reflects the outcome of the American culture’s obsession with material possessions and wealth. What makes the citizens so concerned with their material belongings even during the event of an evacuation? Perhaps just as Jack feels fixed within society through material belongings and shopping, these nomads feel an important connection to their belongings; forfeiting their place in society by giving them up. When reading this novel another question comes to mind; if Jack is so afraid of death and loneliness, then why and how can he base his life’s work on one of our world’s most notorious murders?
ReplyDeleteIn White Noise, while there are many diverse ideas that weave together to create this postmodern environment, advertisements and media can be considered to be a valued role model for the people. As noted above, advertisements and media are a dominating factor during this time in the novel, and in lecture today, a part of the novel was pointed out that encompasses everything this idea offers. On page 149 (in one of the editions), Steffie emphasized a certain advertisement in the part, "She was only repeating some TV voice. Toyota Corolla, Toyota Celica, Toyota Cressida. Supernational names, computer-generated, more or less universally pronounceable. Part of every child's brain noice, the substatic regions too deep to probe. Whatever its source, the utterance struck me with the impact of a moment of splended transcendence." We learn how even from a young character, the impact and affect media has hovered over the characters. The white noise has moved and taken over the minds of all, and it has even come to the point where a child is repeating an advertisement and things she sees on the television outloud. This proves the strength the media has by it taking over their subconscious without them even noticing how it is part of their daily living.
ReplyDeleteAnother important instance of happiness stemming from owning goods is when the family goes shopping at the mall. On page 83, Jack describes the girls as, "guides to my endless well-being" and that "his family gloried in the event". This depicts how the simple act of shopping and acquiring more things has been ingrained in this family as a source of happiness. Jack "shopped for its own sake, looking and touching" (84). It is apparent that mass culture has shaped everything about material possessions as a positive thing. Jack is happy shopping and exploring all of the materialistic aspects of life. Should this be what brings us happiness and fulfillment in life?
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite part about this blog post was the sudden change of font style. Cool copy and paste technique. You make some good arguments about the character's fears of death. It's interesting because we're the only species that understands we will eventually die, so the majority of us fear it. I hope later in the novel DeLillo makes some cool comparisons about understanding death like in Housekeeping.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the concept of the fear of death as being a part of wanting something else was very interesting. It makes total sense that those who still have things that they want to accomplish in life would have a large fear of dying and not being able to carry those things through. I also think that DeLillo offers another explanation for this fear of death. The character Babette mentions that her life is "either/or". She says, "either I chew regular gum or I chew sugarless gum. Either I chew gum or I smoke. Either I smoke or I gain weight. Wither I gain weight or I run up the stadium steps," (53). To me this passage shows that Babette needs to have certain things in her life. These things keep her occupied and unfocused on other things that could potentially be upsetting, like the fact that she has had two failed marriages or that she lives in a world that is completely overrun by consumerism and material value. I also think that her fear of death could possibly be another way of distracting her from living. If she is constantly focusing on death and things that could happen, she will avoid dealing with the real issues in her life.
ReplyDeleteI think that the examination of advertising is one of the most intriguing aspects of this novel. DeLillo demonstrates that advertising has become so ingrained in our lives that we are completely unaware of the affect it has on our decisions. The mass media that has bombarded our minds with constant brands and logos has invaded our unconscious so much that Steffie mumbles about Toyotas while she sleeps. This invasion of advertising reminded me of documentary on marketing where they were debating how trends start. Companies watch for “cool” people that come up with trends that could become part of mass culture and then market them to everyone. But where are these trend setters getting their ideas? Most come from some of advertising. It becomes difficult to tell who is influencing who, which relates to simulacra, where it is difficult to tell what is reality. The pervasiveness of advertising in this book demonstrates multiple points which DeLillo wished to express including the effects of mass media and simulacra.
ReplyDeleteI like the explanation of media in this blog post. I think it would be very interesting too look at DeLillo's media dystopia in comparison with that of Ray Bradbury's in his famous book Fahrenheit 451. In this book, the main character's wife is also consumed with this media, and it too seeps into her subconscious. Both novels deal with immersion in this TV culture and both seem to offer interesting messages that we must reject this evil.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read “She seemed to think that if kids watched television one night a week with parents or stepparents, the effect would be to de-glamorize the medium in their eyes, make it wholesome domestic sport. Its narcotic undertow and eerie diseased brain-sucking power would be gradually reduced,” the part that sticks out to me isn't necessarily the fact that TV definitely has a "brain-sucking power," it's the fact that Babbette is so totally convinced of that power that she's taken active steps to combat it. And it seems ironic to me that the method she's chosen to combat this power is to sit the entire family down and watch television - almost equating togetherness with the medium she's ostensibly trying to avoid. Perhaps Babbette is acting under the effects of that power even as she tries to combat them?
ReplyDeleteSimilar to what Jack said about Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, White Noise reminds me of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World with the oversaturation of media and the prevalent concept of “group think.” The amount of attention the characters in White Noise pay to the media and social trends affects not only their behaviors, but also their subconscious. I thought it was interesting how this research examined history’s most extreme example of this—Hitler and Nazi Germany, and related it to the idea that being a part of mass culture makes Jack feel as though he’s a part of something and therefore less likely to face deadth and loneliness.
ReplyDeleteI think another interesting thing about White Noise is how it seems to paint a reality that is almost wholly devoid of substance and a value - it's almost pathetic the way the characters seem to fear death when for them it's almost an empty gesture towards a life they claim is worth living.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this is emphasized numerous times, most notable the scene in with their fire alarm goes off and Jack notes that it indicates that either the house is on fire or the alarm is malfunctioning. For somebody who seems to fear death to such an extent, his actual reaction in the face of it seems to be pretty weak.
I think this ultimately highlights the inherently selfish nature of Jack and Babette's desire to be the first to die - they live in a society where loneliness is pervasive, despite the seemingly endless crowds and ways to connect with people. Their relationship is almost more of a way to validate their existence rather than a couple borne out of any kind of significant emotional connection.
I think this pretty tragic connections to our current society - we live in an era where it's easier than ever to "make friends." Things like Facebook attest to this. But given all of that, I feel like it's easier than ever to feel lonely and emotionally disconnected from other people. The mere act of making friends seems to have become a kind of collectable - requesting people online and "friending" them is about as meaningful as a couple clicks of the button. Obviously that's an exaggerated portrayal of the situation and I don't think most people have that sense of dire loneliness on a day to day basis but I have to imagine that a mass culture that emphasizes a very faceless kind of connection has to grow depressing after awhile.