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I just completed Scott Westerfeld's YA trilogy Uglies, Pretties, and Specials. They were a really fun read, although I can't say how much I loved the ending of Specials. I need to ruminate on it a bit. It was a little disappointing and part of that is because I very much wanted a Happy Ever After ending. Specials definitely does not give us that and I need to think a little more and sort out my thoughts before I talk anymore about it.
But, what these books did leave me with is an interest in the body as read through ideas of a utopian or dystopian future. How is the body understood or re-imagined to fit in with the philosophical changes in a future society? How is the body re-created, alienated or mechanized? How do those changes/differences reflect the interior ideas of the new society; do they? Are the physical adjustments representative of mental/intellectual changes? Westerfeld deliberately connects the changes in the physical body with changes in the mind. The physical differences between Uglies, Pretties and Specials are markers for the differences in the way that they understand and interact with the world. Within the individual 'types' there are also subdivisions that further finesse those pre-determined thought processes and their social ramifications.
In Westerfeld's future these categories of human are determined and managed by an unseen government body. When children (Littlies) reach the age of twelve they are sent to Uglyville, a series of dormitories, where they are officially known as Uglies until they reach their sixteenth birthday. At the age of sixteen the Uglies are whisked away to the City Hospital where they are essentially re-created. Their bodies are heavily augmented to match the pre-determined standards for beauty set in place by the 'Pretty Committee', a world wide organization whose job it is to decide what the standard of beauty will be for each generation. Sixteen marks the time when Uglies become Pretty and move to New Pretty Town to party until they reach another set age when they go for a second surgery and become Middle Pretties. Middle Pretties live in the suburbs with their children and families. Middle Pretties will then become Later Pretties, also known as crumblies. At what point in one dies of old age, I have no clue.
What we learn later is that along with changing the body, the mind is also altered to make the Pretties manageable and vapid. They are clueless, floating, 'bubbleheads' interested in nothing besides a good time. Specials are enhanced for superhuman speed, strength and sensory perception. They are the ones who make sure that everything stays as it is. The interesting part, however, is that the Specials are also manipulated/brain washed to keep them in-line and under control. I guess it wouldn't do any good to have these superbeings running around with free will or the ability to really think for themselves.
The arc of the novels is the way that Uglies to Specials deal with the idea that the government is changing people without their knowledge (everyone is aware of the physical operation but not that their brains are also being changed).
These changes are all a result of an Apocalyptic event that occurred in the 'Rusty' era and brought about the downfall of civilization as we know it. The operations are an attempt to control the human race to ensure that the planet is not overrun and destroyed as it almost once was.
So now I'm interested in the idea of these futures (utopian and dystopian) as it relates to controlling the mind, body and nature. I have a few other texts (and I mean both literature and film media) randomly in mind: Westerfeld's books, of course; 1984, Johnny Zed, Blade Runner, Minority Report. Unfortunately, I haven't read much sci-fi in a very long time and I wonder if any of you can suggest reading material, academic or fiction, on the subject.
And also what do you think on the subject? What do you think about these kinds of bodily transgressions? Is there a correlation between utopian futures and agricultural communities? Are dystopian futures automatically mechanized, urban cityscapes or the post-apocalyptic remnants of our current society? As we move closer to the cusp of the Apocalypse do we disassociate our minds from our bodies so that these urban futures are marked by the commercial commoditization of the physical form (and I mean literally the buying, selling, replacement of body parts for other than medical emergencies, etc.)?
Does our growing comfort with plastic surgery flag this sort of future? As respect for the natural world wanes, or our hubris in believing that we can control it grows, are we headed for the type of future where we are implanted with chips and our bodies become less and less our own? I was actually very surprised to find in Westerfeld's future that people weren't chipped. They wore rings, bracelets and collars. All it took to run away was enough guts to face the ferocious wild.
These are really rough thoughts. I only finished Specials last night, so bear with me and share ...
But, what these books did leave me with is an interest in the body as read through ideas of a utopian or dystopian future. How is the body understood or re-imagined to fit in with the philosophical changes in a future society? How is the body re-created, alienated or mechanized? How do those changes/differences reflect the interior ideas of the new society; do they? Are the physical adjustments representative of mental/intellectual changes? Westerfeld deliberately connects the changes in the physical body with changes in the mind. The physical differences between Uglies, Pretties and Specials are markers for the differences in the way that they understand and interact with the world. Within the individual 'types' there are also subdivisions that further finesse those pre-determined thought processes and their social ramifications.
In Westerfeld's future these categories of human are determined and managed by an unseen government body. When children (Littlies) reach the age of twelve they are sent to Uglyville, a series of dormitories, where they are officially known as Uglies until they reach their sixteenth birthday. At the age of sixteen the Uglies are whisked away to the City Hospital where they are essentially re-created. Their bodies are heavily augmented to match the pre-determined standards for beauty set in place by the 'Pretty Committee', a world wide organization whose job it is to decide what the standard of beauty will be for each generation. Sixteen marks the time when Uglies become Pretty and move to New Pretty Town to party until they reach another set age when they go for a second surgery and become Middle Pretties. Middle Pretties live in the suburbs with their children and families. Middle Pretties will then become Later Pretties, also known as crumblies. At what point in one dies of old age, I have no clue.
What we learn later is that along with changing the body, the mind is also altered to make the Pretties manageable and vapid. They are clueless, floating, 'bubbleheads' interested in nothing besides a good time. Specials are enhanced for superhuman speed, strength and sensory perception. They are the ones who make sure that everything stays as it is. The interesting part, however, is that the Specials are also manipulated/brain washed to keep them in-line and under control. I guess it wouldn't do any good to have these superbeings running around with free will or the ability to really think for themselves.
The arc of the novels is the way that Uglies to Specials deal with the idea that the government is changing people without their knowledge (everyone is aware of the physical operation but not that their brains are also being changed).
These changes are all a result of an Apocalyptic event that occurred in the 'Rusty' era and brought about the downfall of civilization as we know it. The operations are an attempt to control the human race to ensure that the planet is not overrun and destroyed as it almost once was.
So now I'm interested in the idea of these futures (utopian and dystopian) as it relates to controlling the mind, body and nature. I have a few other texts (and I mean both literature and film media) randomly in mind: Westerfeld's books, of course; 1984, Johnny Zed, Blade Runner, Minority Report. Unfortunately, I haven't read much sci-fi in a very long time and I wonder if any of you can suggest reading material, academic or fiction, on the subject.
And also what do you think on the subject? What do you think about these kinds of bodily transgressions? Is there a correlation between utopian futures and agricultural communities? Are dystopian futures automatically mechanized, urban cityscapes or the post-apocalyptic remnants of our current society? As we move closer to the cusp of the Apocalypse do we disassociate our minds from our bodies so that these urban futures are marked by the commercial commoditization of the physical form (and I mean literally the buying, selling, replacement of body parts for other than medical emergencies, etc.)?
Does our growing comfort with plastic surgery flag this sort of future? As respect for the natural world wanes, or our hubris in believing that we can control it grows, are we headed for the type of future where we are implanted with chips and our bodies become less and less our own? I was actually very surprised to find in Westerfeld's future that people weren't chipped. They wore rings, bracelets and collars. All it took to run away was enough guts to face the ferocious wild.
These are really rough thoughts. I only finished Specials last night, so bear with me and share ...
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 07:12 pm (UTC)From:I find the issues you're talking about most prominent in fictional futures wherein there is some element of mind control. In future societies wherein mind control is in effect, the bodies of the people are more often changed than otherwise. The effect on the bodies is often a *direct* result of the mind control.
The reason for this, I think, is that almost all imaginings of future societies I've seen that use mind control, use mind control in the formation of a "utopian" society. That is, the mind control is used (much like the happy-gas in Firefly) to make peace, stop wars, resolve differences. Resolve differences becomes conformity=peace. And since we all have physical differences, conforming people's appearance is just a step towards utopia. So, I would add to my initial statement (bodies are more often changed in fictional societies that use mind control) that bodies are usually changed in the direction of conformism in order for a mind controlled utopia.
These "utopias" are of course always really Not Good, because hey, people's minds are being controlled. In my experience, I'd say that they're mostly agricultural or with a very "suburban" feel, where technology is either sparse or completely hidden. But it *exists*, usually handled by PTBs or superfreaks or what have you, 'cause hey, they have to have the power to do the mind control.
So, I find that fictional future agricultural/suburban societies are false utopias wherein mind control are in effect. Urban sprawl usually equals dystopia, but there is not the "lie" of utopia, and there is also rarely mind control. If there *is* mind control in urban sprawl, it's not usually the big universal Control Everyone kind.
The reasons for this seem self-evidence as well. Resolve differences! in sci fi usually means a. conformism, as I have pointed out, and b. ignorance. That is, if you don't know how other people are different, you can't argue/fight/kill/war with them. So agricultural communities, in which everyone is spread out, make more sense. Farms also require less sorts of higher thought to maintain, that sort of thing.
An interesting take on that issue is any novel by Ayn Rand. If you haven't read her, I suggest "Anthem", but I'm guessing you have. Anyway, a big theme in all her books is that agricultural culture = ignorance = focus on society as opposed to the individual = conformism = false utopia. Cities = knowledge = independence = true utopia.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 07:36 pm (UTC)From:A great example of this is the movie Logan's Run. It's about a "utopian" society in which everyone over 30 or so was "disposed of". I watched this when I was about 9, so I might be remembering its themes wrong, but the impression I got was that they both wanted to keep people pretty (body control) and stupid (mind control).
I *think* the point was that the PTB in Logan's Run didn't want people to be old/wise/experienced enough to think for themselves. This idea of inexperience = ignorance = utopia is often, in my experiences of fictional future societies, grafted onto the much larger idea of *collective* experience.
For instance, the people in Logan's Run are all ignorant of the Ancients, or whoever, which often means us. "We" are generally smarter, more productive, more independent than these children of utopia; we are also greedier, more war-like, and more self-destructive.
The Giver by Lois Lowry is all about keeping the population ignorant of the past, of collective experience, of human development. It's reflected physically in the society by the fact that no one can see color; the change is not in the bodies but in man's perception of the bodies.
As a side note, a really really fascinating look at the importance of collective experience to the evolution of society is A Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. It has nothing to do with your topic of physical bodies, though.
While I'm on the issue of reading material, etc, these things came to mind:
Star Trek: the only humans who are really physically different are the Borg, who are all about mind control, conformity, yada yada.
Firefly: no humans look noticably different in that future. Possibly, the Reavers look different. As a result of an attempt at enforced conformity, mind control.
Stepford Wives: creepy shit, yo.
This ep of the Twilight Zone my s-i-l told me about: I wish I could see this ep, because it sounds right up my alley, and it's what you were talking about. Anyway, apparently, in this ep it's a future society, and there's this woman they keep locked away, because she looks like a freak. She's really awful to look at, they say, yada yada yada. But at the end you see her, and turns out she's beautiful. The point, apparently, is that everyone in the future society is ugly, and beauty is built on social conceptions, not objective reality.
The Tripods, YA sci fi series by John Christopher: This doesn't have anything to do with bodies, but rather, again, with age. Children roam free, but adults are "capped" (mind controlled) by aliens. Because naturally, adults, with their experience etc etc, are more dangerous.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 08:04 pm (UTC)From:More often, imo, I think they're born out of a fear that others will control us, and thus control our physical forms.
Although I know I've seen some (Gattaca, brilliant movie if you haven't seen it) I've seen far less fictional future societies in which people voluntarily modify their bodies. It's more often some government entity doing it to them. It seems to me more the fear of Big Brother, than concern about we, as the human race, losing touch with our bodies. It's the fear that's the center of 1984 and Ayn Rand and lots and lots of sci fi writers who wrote during/grew up during the Cold War. Imo.
However, that's just in my experience. Gattaca, I think, does express a fear about our current complacency with commoditizatizing and adjusting our own bodies. And the fear of our minds disassociating from our bodies seems particularly prevalent, as evidence by so many movies about cloning recently. The Sixth Day, Aeon Flux, and The Island come to mind. I particularly rec The Island on the issue of commoditization. Ew! It's a lot like Logan's Run, iirc, and Scarlett Johanneson or whatever her name is is hot.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 08:20 pm (UTC)From:Xenocide, by Orson Scott Card, has a kick-ass, awesome plot about the genetically engineered superfreaks brainwashed by the PTB. It also has several other plots I found lame and boring.
It's the third in the Ender's Game trilogy, which Card should've stopped writing when he was ahead. Ender's Game is awesome and if you haven't, you should read it. The sequel, Speaker for the Dead, has really badass concepts and really terribly poor execution. The third is Xenocide, and after that I don't rec reading. I tried and failed.
Last comment, sorry. The problem with an issue like the one you posted here is I find it extremely difficult to reply to in any reasonable amount of time. I actually felt similarly about your gender/toy post. I typed several very long replies to that post, didn't get near to what I wanted to say, and ended up deleting them because I knew I wouldn't have time to expound on it properly. I find on lj it works better if you really narrow down the topic, but of course in doing so you lose the richness of a fuller, broader discussion. Eek. Oh, well.