White Noise: Consumerism And Mass Media
Author: Sharon White

Jack Gladney, as a consumer may feel free, independent and
powerful to create his own future, but the feeling of
satisfaction soon fades away and the feeling of emptiness
returns, because the only thing he really is able to control is
the number of goods he can buy and the amount of money he
spends. Mass consumerism creates a false sense of helping an
individual find a unique identity. It actually kills the
identity which assigns the individual to one of the many
standardized groups of consumers. Jack Gladney, the founder and
the college chairman of the `Hitler studies', believes that just
like the great German dictator unified the Nazis, Americans now
long to be members of consumer groups in order to ward off
death. Death is another interesting topic in this book. The main
characters use consumerism to deny death. Anyway, death still
faces individually, so it doesn't matter what group you belong
to. All the characters including Babette, Jack's wife, are
fixated on death. Babette has problems imagining death. At this
high income level, even with all of the assets acquired, she is
concerned with her health and is trying to find ways to get out
of this fear. Instead of searching for the escape inside of
herself she is finding external painkillers. She starts using
some kind of Prozac-like medication called `Dylar', which really
does her no good and it only harms her health. John sticks by
Hitler because Hitler is `larger than death', basically just
like any other celebrity used by people who are afraid to deal
with their fear of death on their own.

But this doesn't help him much anyway. Even Jack's initials
J.A.K., which were specially invented in order to have a better
image, remind of the deceased American president. Sometimes Jack
thinks about his gun, hidden in the bathroom, sometimes he wakes
up and thinks of death (especially before his 51st birthday),
often he thinks about who's going to die first :he or his wife?
The airborne toxic event was quite an experience for a
death-fearing family. With every new media report they are
finding out new symptoms and new things which could start
happening to their bodies. That's where the real power of mass
media becomes apparent! Characters of the "White Noise" create
false images/realities for themselves. Jack, an American whop is
experiencing problems learning German, hides his weaknesses
behind shaded glasses and under the black robe, a sign of
authority. He tries to create a more comfortable reality for
himself looking for proof that the Nazi fuehrer also had
problems with the language. Murray uses Elvis as his idol.
Babette uses her image of a strong, always busy woman, although
in reality she's rather weak. She uses illegal drugs that have
not been approved for usage, and the way she gets those drugs is
through a long series of secret sexual intercourses with Mr.
Gray in a motel. The real reason for this is lack of love in the
relationship with her husband. They don't even have sex, and
every time they try to do it they end up looking at old
photographs for hours. They try to create an image of a healthy
American family, and if they do it successfully, that means that
all the families in the country are rather unhealthy, because
spending time with the family, watching TV silently, waiting
until this routine is over to go do whatever else, is not
normal. Mass media has a great influence on people in the book.
They believe everything said on TV/Radio even if they don't
quite understand what's being discussed. The airborne toxic
event can be one example. Kids believe in all they hear from the
life radio coverage of the event, and find all the symptoms of
the disease on their bodies. Another example is when Jack and
his son Heinrich drive in a car and rain falls right on it.
Heinrich tells his father about the weather prognosis for the
night that says it shall be raining. Jack advises his son to
rely more on his own senses as it is already raining. Mass media
consumes these people. After Babette is shown on TV, everyone
starts treating her differently. People are possessed by the
idea of becoming famous for at least a minute. The only thing
Jack's daughter is disappointed about after the power-off on the
plane is that they could have been shown on TV if the camera
were there! Some try to get some fame by spending time in the
company of a bunch of snakes, or killing 6 unknown people.

People no longer have faith in God as well as in themselves.
When Jack, after shooting Mr. Gray, asks a nun on how the Church
views heaven, we find out that nuns are just an image for women
who like to live in a monastery and give hope to non-believers.
People also have no faith in themselves. They are completely
unable to choose their image based on insight, so they have to
go to malls to get dome help from the most famous/'unique'
brands (you are what you buy). Americans in the book are
pictured as a lost nation that has lost its soul and any kind of
religion apart from consumerism. Fame is the only way to escape
the randomness of death, and the means of achieving fame can be
almost any. Life is important only when it is featured on the
TV, the rest simply is not worth paying attention.


About The Author: The article was produced by the writer of
http://masterpapers.com. Sharon White is a senior writer and
writers consultant at term papers. Get some useful tips for
thesis writing and term paper writing .