Analysis of The novel White Noise by Don DeLillo - 1925 Words

Analysis of The novel White Noise by Don DeLillo (Book Review Sample) Content: Studentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s nameProfessorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s nameName of the subjectDateWhite Noise AnalysisDon DeLillo is a prominent writer of postmodernism, whose creative works touch upon the complex problems in social and spiritual life of present-day America. The author criticizes the bewildering, materialistic, and superficial culture of the late twentieth century and shows a man lost in a world of confusion, rage, madness, and the effects of modern consumerism. His characters fight in a world of de-centered meanings and cannot find the focal point, as things have fallen apart in this artificial reality.The novel White Noise is a revolutionary work ahead of its time that introduces the problems of the whole society. The major themes of this book are a fear of death, extreme consumerism, and the universal passion for technology. Discovering them, DeLillo emphasizes the impact of mass-produced things on peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s life.The author gives the thought-provoking and detailed analysis of the contemporary society à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ society of consumption. He demonstrates how shopping centers, supermarkets, advertising, tabloids, television are considerably related to present-day Americans on the example of one post-nuclear family.Even our high-technology society is overloaded with information, but, in fact, people are disoriented. For instance, the family of the main hero is characterized as the "cradle of the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s misinformation" with his numerous marriages, wives, and children (DeLillo 81).The false values of the consumer society are represented by the author. The family of Jack Gladney occupies the time with regularly received useless information such as goods from the supermarket and mall, fast food, and television. Jackà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s colleague, Murray Jay Siskind, regards television and shopping as new religious procedures. He is a media-obsessed figure, who is influenced by American popular culture. Scenes with lists of broadcast voices and bra nd names just underline the expansion of consumerism and television to all spheres of our life.The protagonist, Jack Gladney, looks like as a person who does not have any moral values. He builds his career by studying Adolf Hitler and has become an expert on Hitlerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s life only to become a well-known personality. A Hitler study is located in the Popular Culture Building instead of the History building, and this is a vital point to understand Jackà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s work. He does not worry about the war theme and millions of people, whom Hitler ordered to kill, just concentrating on the trivia and celebrity. Jack is most interested in Hitler as sex idol and superstar of Germany, as his colleague, Murray, said: "He is now your Hitler, Gladneyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s Hitler. It must be deeply satisfying for you. The college is internationally known as a result of Hitler studies. It has an identity, a sense of achievement. Youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬re evolved and entire system around this figure, a structure with countless substructures and interrelated fields of study, a history within history" (DeLillo 16).Due to the chancellorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s advice, Jack begins to wear expensive clothes all the time in campus and represents himself professionally as J.A.K. Cladney to become more recognized person. However, it is quite possible that our collapsed consumerist society constrained him to act in such a manner. Jackà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s surroundings are considered to be a stage for his leading role as a "Hitler scholarà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . No longer supported by Hitlerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s shadow and having lost the strong ties to family, community, religion, Jack worries about his morality: "I am the false character that follows the name around" (DeLillo 17).The whole college town is full of consumerists, who prefer watching television to partaking in public activities. People are mad about cereal boxes, media figures, and trademarks. Walking to the supermarket resembles a visit to the church. Supermarkets take t he leading position of "American magic and dread" (DeLillo 19), where consumers turn into masses. Therefore, these things are central for understanding of our contemporary world and its main beliefs, where God is substituted by an ATM, and individuality is relieved by mass media models; consumerism has replaced religion.This replacement means that consumerism has become more significant than religious beliefs. The supermarket is a small version of the whole world. There is an enormous range of dissimilar products as well as diverse types of the identical product. The different price on the same product explains the different classes in society. Shopping centers and supermarkets serve as the channels for the spiritual desires of contemporary Americans, who seek "peace of mind in a profit oriented context" (DeLillo 87) in such temples. Thus, consumerism has turned into a religion of things, but it cannot give salvation or consolation for people.A situation of Jack checking the balance in the automated teller machine elucidates all sides of consumerism: "I inserted my card, entered my secret code, tapped out my request. The figure on the screen roughly corresponded to my independent estimate, feebly arrived at after long searches through documents, tormented arithmetic. Waves of relief and gratitude flowed over me. The system had blessed my life. I felt its support and approval" (DeLillo 46).The concept of "white" together with the meaning of "the noise" illustrates the concept of supermarkets. Consumption is revealed in the scene, where Jack feels first desire for shopping in a large shopping center. The connection with the real world is exposed by shopping malls, television shows, radio programs, tabloid stories, and other forms of media representation. Even the violence spread by media is shown as entertainment, watching which the audience truly likes (Dà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬cruz 78).The media affect people so that their individualities become dependent on the image of t he products they buy. Jack understands it and feels that he has no real personality, because he should buy goods to wear conforming to the images: "I filled myself out, found new aspects of myself, located a person I forgotten existedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ Our images appeared on mirrored columns, in glassware and chrome, on TV, monitors in security rooms" (DeLillo 84).The writer has set up the sensation of death as useful and noticeable one, because consumer standard of living is a method to escape from the fear of death. Jack considers the supermarket to be the only holy place à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ "a place where things are said, sights are seen, distances reached which we in our ordinary toil can only regard with the mingled reverence and wonder we hold in reserve for feats of the most sublime and difficult dimensionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ( DeLillo 78). Murray has defined the supermarket as a space with the feeling of safety "sealed off and self-containedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬timeless" (DeLillo 38), where one can wait after death before new birth: "This place recharges us spiritually, it prepares us, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s a gateway or pathway. Look how bright. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s full of physic dataà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬" (DeLillo 37). Perhaps, Murrayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s lectures on consumer and television are inherently a perception of the modern reality.After the search of stableness in life, the main hero faces the cloud of damaging substances, and the fear of death appears after it. Jackà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s belongings are of little consolation to him, as he wants to solve the problem of emptiness. He is concerned about the shortness of his earthly existence, but engrosses with sickly desire the details of bloody disasters that are depicted by mass media. The irony consists in selecting a media image of death, not a religious one.Jackà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s wife, Babette, thinks that a person with the proper attitude to a situation can modify a damaging circumstance by breaking it up into parts. Such worldview has been formed by present pragm atic beliefs and overall conception of the world. It is caused by the impact of advertisement, television and other effects of contemporary consumerism. Nowadays, shopping centers, supermarkets, and television have become the principal spiritual needs, by which the society attempts to retrieve peace of mind. Advertised glamor images and brand names have taken the focus of our lives.Thus, the novel exposes the way our society is overwhelmed with tabloid stories of celebrity worship, and compulsive consumerism in general. DeLillo defines "purer speech" within the sound of voices and depicts the poisonousness of our world by metaphors. The postmodern toxic world that gives people the fear of diseases and death rather than real certainty is presented. It is the world where the logic of consumerism manipulates peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s minds and behaviors.In the film Fight Club (Uhls) consumerism is a contemporary movement, social and economic arrangement aimed at promotion of products and serv ices in order to make people buy them in larger amounts. Fight Club presents two opposing characters of the consumer personality: the storyteller, known as Jack, and Tyler. Jack starts out as the consumer measuring the value of his life by material things, whereas Tyler has his own position in life. Jack does not have family or friends, and he buys things to fill his emptiness and lack of real emotions. Tyler has no weaknesses and usually says "things you own end up owing you" (Uhls 11).The storyteller is the narrator, who initiated the idea of Fight Clubà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s creation with a purpose of having a controlled scene for fighting. He is depicted as a real consumer, who earns profits and a high status in society despite the chosen method. As the Fight Club started the activity, it established its rules. Tyler declared these rules: "The first rule of fight club is - you do not talk about fight club. The second rule of fight club...

The Lion King 2019 By

One of the most anticipated films of 2019 is Disneys live-action remake of the 1994 classic animated movie The Lion King. Created using advanced computer imaging technology, The Lion Kingpromises to bring to the big screen the beloved story in all its photorealistic glory. Teasers and trailers have been trending on the internet for months now, and audiencesold and young alikehave expressed great anticipation for the film. But given that the original was a classic, it begs the question of why Disney created a new version. The remake, of course, is not really a surprise. The Lion Kingis just the latest in a long list of remakes that Disney has released in the past few years. Theres Maleficent in 2014 which gave Sleeping Beauty a new twist. Then theres Beauty and the Beastin 2017. And just over a week ago, Disney released the trailer for the 2020 remake of Mulan.There are some very good reasons why The Lion Kingdeserved a remake, but perhaps the most important of these is the least obvi ous. It is a simple and powerful thing known as nostalgia.The Lion King ReimaginedFew Disney movies have been as successful as The Lion King. Apart from being a massive critical and box office success, the film inspired sequels, spin-offs, and a widely-praised Broadway stage adaptation. The movies success alone is perhaps enough reason why it deserves to be remade using current technologies. As the level of computer imaging reached new heights, filmmakers and audiences alike have come to wonder how hand-drawn films would look like if reimagined as live-action flicks. And reimagining they certainly do, as remakes of old favorites are released one by one. The Lion Kingis an obvious choice. After all, if studios get to remake only a handful of movies, shouldnt this classic be one of them? The Lion King is more than just a lion and kingdoms, but its a motivational movie for those who want to be involved in filmmaking or animation.A Mostly Black CastThe Lion King remake is evidently also Disneys chance to make films the right way. Racial issues, in particular, are sensitive subjects in Hollywood. Not a small number of filmmakers and studios have found themselves in hot water after being accused of whitewashing non-white characters. Disney has clearly been trying to avoid this. The Lion Kingappears to be one of their more recent efforts at being inclusive. The film features a mostly black cast, with all the lion and hyena characters played by actors and actresses of African descent. This film comes on the heels of Aladdin, a previous remake that cast actors and actresses of Middle Eastern, North African, or Indian descent, and right before Mulan, an upcoming remake with a mostly East Asian cast.Capturing a New Generationand Recapturing the OldThough there are good reasons why The Lion Kingwas remade, perhaps the most compelling is nostalgia, or more specifically what nostalgia is capable of accomplishing. Nostalgia is difficult to define, but most would agree that i t is the feeling of sentimentality or longing for the past. Remember that Disney is still a corporation with typically corporate needs such as consumers and revenues. To sustain its business, Disney must not only win over new audiences but also maintain its current viewers. But in a stroke of pure genius, remakes such as The Lion Kingaccomplishes both challenges.First, The Lion Kingis designed to recapture its old audiences. Disney has basically realized that the millions of children who loved The Lion King in 1994 are now all grown up, working, and earning disposable incomes that they would willingly spend to see their beloved movie come alive on the big screen again. A big chunk of those who plan to see The Lion King are young adults who saw the film in their childhood. They are those who grew up remembering their heart-wrenching scenes and singing its songs. Disney is well-aware that The Lion King and other films such as Aladdinand Mulan tug at the heartstrings of these young adu lts. These films have acquired a brand new look, but they also offer their audiences the comfort of the familiar. Viewing these films is not just about allowing audiences to revisit the sights and sounds of their childhood; it is not just about seeing their films enhanced by new technology; it is also about taking them back to an innocent, happy, and carefree time in their life. The seeds sown by Disney 25 years ago are now mature and ready for the reaping. There are elements in The Lion King that are very well-produced and written, and can even be subject to a lengthy research paper if given the chance.But beyond recapturing its old audiences, Disney also relies on nostalgia to build a new generation of devoted fans. The Lion Kingremakeis most probably a beautiful film in its own right. Most kids who havent yet seen the 1994 film will likely fall in love with this movie the same way young adults fell in love with the original in 1994. But nostalgia gives young parents extra incenti ve to take their children to the movies. Young parents who love the original would without a doubt consider viewing the remake with their kids a special moment. It is not just a time to bond; it is also a time for parents to introduce their children to something that made their childhood memorable. A generation from now, these young kids will have their turn initiating their own children.Its easy to accuse Disney of being lazy and just cashing in on nostalgia by rehashing classics. But such an assumption is dismissive of the passionate artists behind these movies. It overlooks the fact that a tremendous amount of work goes into remaking a classic film using new technology. A remake is not meant to duplicate an existing classic; it is meant to complement it. If anything, a remake is an homage to the immortality of a classic.Writing services for college studentsAt this point in time, nostalgia is the most potent element of Disneys films, and Disneys deep understanding of nostalgia is the secret to the success of its remakes. That much can be admitted. But if Disney has relied so much on nostalgia these past few years, its only because it has made such wonderful films in the pastfilms that are worthy of praise and study. In such matters, can be your partner. 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