BachelorofArts

FacultativeLiterarySeminar
Essay

OftheArtandCulturein(BraveNew)World

Author:JakubFerenc
CharlesUniversityinPrague,FacultyofEducation
2014

wordcount:2524

Theydontcarewhereyouwereborn,justhow.(Gattaca)

Aldous Huxley was born into a family whose eminence was indisputable. In fact, there have been
only few other lineages which produced more Nobel Prize laureates, as it is the instance of the
incubator for highly functional individuals the Curies. Huxleys family gave rise to prominent
scientists too. In particular, Julian, Aldous brother, was academically involved in the evolutionary
biology and eugenics, which certainly had a considerable influence on Huxley the writer. We will not
be far from the truth if we posit that the novel Brave New World could be regarded for Huxley as a
material wherein he could apply his philosophical and scientific observations on the subject of
eugenics and human population a literary work in which the natural selection is substituted and
subjugated by the needs of a totalitarian state. Without diminishing Huxleys genius, it is almost a
miracle that there could be a person without the benefit of Huxleys stimulating background who did
write on the same topic and much more importantly, several years earlier than Huxley himself. As
George Orwell pointed out in his review of We, as one of the first who noticed the striking similarity,
Huxley must have been partially influenced by Zamyatins novel. Orwell writes that: The
atmosphere of the two books is similar, and it is roughly speaking the same kind of society
that is being described though Huxley's book shows less political awareness and is more
influencedbyrecentbiologicalandpsychologicaltheories.(Orwell)

Indeed, we concur with Orwell when it comes to means whereby the State attains its absolutistic
control Zamyatins book is rather concerned with the totality of political power and a revolutionary
sentiment and movement against it, whereas Huxleys world depicts science, scientific management
and massproduction applied to the procreation of life itself. Orwell then differentiates We from
Brave New World by ascribing to the story a quality which is supposedly much closer to our own
world. Nevertheless, here we must disagree. Having examined the world in We, the reader cannot
avoid perceiving the ubiquitous visual aesthetical reiteration of and emphasis put on the rational and
precise mathematical thinking, the life and psych which were, by Zamyatin, so notably mechanized
that the lamentable individuals resemble nothing more than the robotic mentors found in the story
who solemnly occupy prime teaching positions. On the other hand, Huxleys society, genetically
modified, indoctrinated by Pavlovian conditioning yes, but still free to indulge voraciously in
emotions,sexandevenpopularculturehoweverdistortedandlowbrowtheseelementsare.

Moreover, BNW is far from an egalitarian society. It is artificially divided into castes, each stratum
of which, with its assigned duties and set limits, plays a significant role in the communitys stability.
Zamyatin's book is on the whole more relevant to our own situation (Orwell) says Orwell.
But is that really the case? Is our own situation indeed filled with controlled chastity and analytical
reasoning ad absurdum not burdened by unnecessary emotions? Is Huxleys consumerist community
not closer to our current state of affairs with mainstream art, feelies, which are essentially
analogous to lowbrow bits of popular culture imposed on us daily by staring advertisements, and
the act of copulation which is oftentimes nothing more than accessible lyricism for masses, as
Baudelairetoldus?

Orwells, as we believe, erroneous deduction perhaps stems from his not grasping the conditions
under which the society could in BNW exist: and though everyone is happy in a vacuous way,
life has become so pointless that it is difficult to believe that such a society could endure.
(Orwell) We shall thus revisit Orwells claim and attempt to explain not only how such social
structures are maintained but also find apparent parallels between the fiction and our reality. In order
to do so, we shall turn to culture and expose the elaborate mechanisms which are installed in its very
core.

Whenmasscultureexhibitsitselfitalsolovestoshowhowitsproductsaremade
andhoweverythinginitfunctions.(TheCultureIndustry,SelectedEssays)

We enter the story in media res, right on time in order to explore the fabulous tour of machinery of
the State the hatchery for new free slaves the production of citizens. The very bounds which used
to separate us mentally and physically from the outer political and ideological intrigues the family
has become irrelevant, nonexistent, outsourced by Big Mother. The air is calm and sky flickers
from time to time with hitech flying vehicles which can swiftly transfer us on our steady consumerist
pilgrimage from one mecca to another. From a birds eye perspective we do not see any Guardians
1
supervising the order of the state. The law enforcement is unnecessary either. Gone are the days
when physical violence was the only way exerted to establish and sustain the position of elites sitting
at the top of Mount Olympus. The technological progress reaches its momentum. The singularity is
near. The technology and psychology intersects in order to give birth to a new academic
interdisciplinary programme, a new kind of science Emotional Engineering. In order to ensure the
obedience of individuals, the mind must be constantly under the influence of means which do not
control the physical part of the victim but reaches much deeper, into the consciousness wherein it
furtively waits to become an invisible part of ones Self. It is a cancerous splinter which overgrows
within ones mind and then, the poor and defenceless host starts to identify his own being with this
prostheticantennaewhichislinkedtoaremotecontrolthepowerofnumbingpropaganda.

It is this powerful propaganda serving the ideology of chosen elite which enables the State to play
the puppeteer and pull the strings as tacitly as if the whole society were wordless, watching a serious
opera, and with an exhilarating response as if the next variet show was on the programme. Indeed,
not only is it much more convenient to win a battle without the shedding of blood but how masterful
a deed it is to convince the common folk that all the steps were taken exclusively in the name of
prosperityandpatronageinhisname?

1
HereIamalludingtoZamyatinsnameforpolicemen/guardswhichheusedinhisnovelWe
Adorno and his intellectual comrades of Frankfurt School describe our false needs as the false
consciousness, the belief that ones situation is exactly in the state it should be, at its equilibrium,
without possibly being able to think or determine otherwise. In addition, Herbert Marcuse describes
such false needs as: those which are superimposed upon the individual by particular social
interests in his repressionMost of the prevailing needs to relax, to have fun, to behave and
consume in accordance with the advertisements, to love and hate what others love and hate,
belong to this category of false needs. (Marcuse) It is essential to point out that to judge ones
sentiments and preferences is to believe that there exist objective values which are intrinsically the
right ones and should be therefore prefered. Answering if our world comprises of Platos objective
forms of rightness and trueness is a metaphysical question and irrelevant to our inquiry for the crucial
point is whether an individual is in a position where his views of what is good and true are based on
his decisionmaking process which, as Marcuse adds, is autonomous and not influenced by
indoctrination and manipulation (Marcuse). In Brave New World, however, to think for oneself
is to pose a threat to the State and the consistency of the States narrative the threat which is
fundamentally diminished by an altered prebirth genetic makeup as well as meticulously chosen
hypnopaedic lines which exploits the subliminal power of poetry to strengthen the States narrative
2
within ones mind. Nevertheless, there are always those who can resist the conditioning and become
awaken or if we look to the Eastern philosophy, upon ones enlightening, one will realise that all
that is consists of but nothingness and emptiness. The same, somewhat a horrifying realisation, is
expected to be felt when one has seen finally through the ideological prison of false and meaningless
needs in which ones mind was kept.This is, of course, the most dangerous scenario for any
ideology and therein lies the importance and work of Culture Industry. The States remote control
operates the better, the more uniform the society is. The society is then bombarded by a constant
flow of amusement and action whose content is gradually simplified and from the abstract tends to
focus on the concrete, the portrayal of daily life with which the indoctrinated victims are so familiar.
The simplicity of products of Culture Industry reshapes the brain by the virtue of the workings of
brains neuroplasticity, that is, if the input stimuli are trivial and does not require much mental effort,
the processing is carried out virtually unconsciously, which leads to the degeneration of neural
networkssincetheyarenotutilised.

The poetry and metaphors have thus no place in BNW, instead, all the content of culture and art
must be predigested, highly experiential this is the form which the objects of Culture Industry
desire and need the art to be presented. Adorno reiterates our point on how important the proper
stimulation of brain is and talks pertinently about atrophy of imagination and spontaneity
(Dialektika Osvcen 128, as translated by Jakub Ferenc) as an outcome of the prosaically explicit
message in art here Adorno specifically mentions the genre of film, whose storyline, in order that it
canbeunderstood,simulatestheeverydaylife.

2
InBraveNewWorldhypnopaediaisawayofconditioningduringsleep
There is also a tendency that a spectator will experience films in a way where the fictitious plot and
the reality will blend completely (Dialektika Osvcen 128, as translated by Jakub Ferenc), which is
an uncontroversial claim if we assume that the screen reflects the same image which the spectator
perceives in front of the eyes during a day. To distinguish reality will become almost impossible and
the juxtaposition of fiction and reality will dissolve into a hyperreality in which our emotions and
urges, which normally stay suppressed, can reveal themselves, unconsciously, in this frame of reality
asaFreudianslip.

Then suddenly somebody started singing Orgyporgy and, in a moment, they had all
caught up the refrain and, singing, had begun to dance. Orgyporgy, round and round and
round,beatingoneanotherinsixeighttime.(Huxley196)

To illustrate the concept of hyperreality, let us suggest one of the last scenes of BNW, which
eventually led to Johns suicide. We follow citizens of BNW hypnotized by the violent whipping
scene. In addition to their natural promiscuity, they are driven by the sadomasochistic experience
previously seen in the feely. They cannot but react by a synthesis of the real and fiction this time it
is a violent, sadomasochistic Orgyporgy, which is as natural to the participants as if all of them were
actors in a film. They are now merely playing in accordance with the script, not having a choice to
do otherwise. Their lust from the unconscious is now materialized and epitomised in their sexual
sadomasochisticacts.

Hyperreality is the last stage of false consciousness and the goal of every successful advertising
campaign. The victim is no longer the master of his own life. He has been robbed of his logos and is
now fully dependent upon the script which is uniquely written for him. But the uniqueness is a mere
illusion, of course. As we mentioned earlier, the State cannot afford to control each person
separately. It would not be economically feasible. Culture Industry is then exposed as an elaborate
apparatus which massproduces millions of copies of art so that everybody is able to experience
being unique for a few minutes until the next collection or version of the very same product is
released. In order to keep up with the consistency in ones uniqueness, the consumer is forced to
wait in long lines in front of the shops. How wonderful it is to spend hours of waiting with peers who
share the same enthusiasm for setting oneself apart from the mundane crowd. It is this race for latest
designs, which at the time of their release are automatically obsolete but nevertheless accompanied
by grandiose shows which reinforce the artificial significance of the event, that fills the void of
consumeristdreamworldtheveryanswerfortheconfusedOrwell.

But what happens if the conditioning fails? There are several possibilities. If one is too much creative
and spontaneous to fit the trodden paths, the State can certainly summon, according to Adorno,
talent scouts and talent competitions (Dialektika Osvcen 124, as translated by Jakub Ferenc) which
will mould bohemians into prefabricated forms, which is always much cheaper than creating a new
assemblyline.

But I was an inquisitive young scullion once. I started doing a bit of cooking on my own.
Unorthodoxcooking,illicitcooking.Abitofrealscience,infact."Hewassilent.

"Whathappened?"askedHelmholtzWatson.(Huxley172)

The other way to deal with the inappropriate curiosity is brought up by BNW itself. The concept of
Island is paradoxical, however. Even though it is a political prison, for certain characters of BNW it
mightbeconsideredaliberation,sinceitrepresentsanescapefromtheCultureIndustryaswellas
areunionwiththelikemindedpartofpopulation.(Chalupsk)

If the opposition to the mainstream is nonexistent, there is no hope of any progress. It has been the
responsibility of those who enjoy a privileged life and intellectuals to to expose the lies of
governments, to analyze actions according to their causes and motives and often hidden
intentions (Chomsky). But in Brave New World, there is no alternative. The fluctuations in the
States narrative are subjects to even more effective and fiendish indoctrination or are got rid off
completely. Orwell might have wondered how pointless the life in Brave New World is but, in the
end, the question is whether the same issue is contemplated by the population. But such topics,
Shakespeare and Bible will not be understood until one day an outsider interprets the words to the
entireworld.Butwillwehavetimetolisten?

Workscited

Huxley,Aldous.BraveNewWorld.NewYork:HarperPerenial.1969.Print.

Adorno,TheodorandHorkheimer,Max.Dialektikaosvcenstv:filosofickfragmenty
OIKOYMENH.2009.Print.

Adorno,Theodor.TheCultureIndustry:SelectedEssaysonMassCulture.Psychology
Press.2001.Print.

Orwell,George.ReviewofWEbyE.I.Zamyatin.Orwell.ru.Web.15Mar.2014.
<http://orwell.ru/library/reviews/zamyatin/english/e_zamy>

Chomsky,Noam.TheResponsibilityofIntellectualsWeb.15Mar.2014.
<http://www.chomsky.info/articles/19670223.html>
Marcuse,Herbert.OneDimensionalMan.Marxists.org.Web.15Mar.2014.
<http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/marcuse/works/onedimensionalman/ch01.htm
%20Herbert%20Marcuse.%20OneDimensional%20Man>

Ph.D.Chalupsk,PhDr.Petr.FacultativeLiterarySeminar.FacultyofEducation,Charles
UniversityinPrague.14Nov2013.Lecture.

Gattaca.Dir.AndrewNiccol.CulverCity,Calif:ColumbiaTriStarHomeVideo,1998.Film