A Bigger Problem

I think that there are a few different types of alienation. As we saw in Little Miss Sunshine, each character had a trait which alienated them in one way or another from the other characters. For some it was their personality, others a secret they kept hidden, others a life goal. This type of alienation is by choice. Wether by omission or by virtue of their personality, each character chose to alienate themselves in a certain way from the others. This differs from the type of alienation detailed in “Invisible Man”. The protagonist in the work is alienated from society because of his race, not by choice. He attempts to acclimate himself in society by trying to get noticed and not be as much of a social pariah. He fails, but I think it shows a sharp comparison between alienation by choice and alienation by an outside force. 

I think that Alienation in general is normal in any society. There has to be a balance between those who are most internally involved in society and those who participate from a distance. The imbalance comes when those who wish to participate in society are stopped by others, this is alienation. I don’t think that alienation can be stopped unless all people are first valued equally in society. Once everyone was equal, they could participate in society as little or as much as they wish. But equality for all has been a problem for America since it’s beginning, and all around the world, and as long as equality is a problem, alienation will be a problem too.

Why society has shifted away from community

In our society today, we have shifted away from the values of community and relaxation and towards working and efficiency. Efficiency plays a huge role in todays society, especially in america, because we learn from a very young age that the only path towards success and therefore happiness is through hard work. Although this statement has value, I believe that americans take it to heart so much that they forget about that happiness on the way towards success and only focus on the future. This is shown in Sherry Turkles ted talk when her daughter efficiently sends her a text rather than wishing her luck in person, which is quick, but also in my opinion much less valuable, because it is more meaningful to be supported in person than through a screen. This is also shown in Bowling alone when Robert Putnam talks about how we have moved away from social gatherings and a sense of community, which had lead to a lot of the alienation we face today. I believe that this is because if one is seen just hanging out with a group of people, they are constantly thinking about all the things that they could be doing instead that might help them in the future, while loosing the value of just passing time with their friends. I believe that although AI could lead to further alienation, if used correctly it could solve many of these problems. With a shift in society, we might be able to move away from this highly efficient and work centered society and into a society revolving around community and social exchanges. This is because AI would allow us to not have to worry about the minor algorithmic jobs that we all do daily, but rather worry about our community and how to better our lives in the future. 

Alienation of individuality

As the media makes it easier and easier to assess information now, it becomes a trend, or an instinct to follow the popular culture. However, as people are busy keeping up with fashion, fearing to fall back behind someone, they are losing their individuality which they  don't have time to consider and to develop. In keeping up with the trend, they are only constructing appearances that essentially look alike to others', while shutting down their inner communications.

The Ted Talk "Connected but Alone" reflects on this situation. People are obsessed with the superficial and virtual connection to "cool people" on the Internet, competing their ranking in games with people all over the world, showing off the bright parts of their lies on social media, while neglecting communications with those in real life who can better understand their troubles and themselves as individuals. The Internet creates illusion for some people that there must be someone out there who is more compassionate, more intelligent and more worth for them to talk to those who live close to them. While this can be true, it also lends excuse for not directly facing the reality.

Similarly in the Little Miss Sunshine Contest, all the other candidates except for Olive are dressing up like models with heavy make up and stiff smiles. Adults are applauding for them, who are only children. The gap between their individuality and their appearance alienates themselves from the world, as the world no longer perceives them the way they actually are.

Danger of Marginalization and Exploitation

    In the prologue of The Invisible Man, the invisibility of the narrator is a metaphor for racial discrimination. Because of his black ethnicity, he is "invisible' to other people in the world. The blindness of the others reveals the social neglect towards the minorities. The incident with the blond man is quite ironic. The fact that the blond man insulted him because he cannot see him makes me wonder if that reflects the hidden racism in nowadays society. People can be racist without realizing they are. They can subconsciously marginalize the minorities, look down on them and reject them without identifying themselves as racist. How pervasive this hidden racism is in our world?

    This reminds me of The Hollow Man, in which the men are denied of their freedom and rights as human beings. There’s nothing meaningful going on with them.They can’t kiss someone if they want to. Instead they say prayers to stones as a way to express their desire. The fact that they do not dare to look at others or to be looked at is so pathetic and sad. They are somehow degraded by their environment, no dignity, no personality. The “shadow” has paralyzed all of them, making them unable to act, create, or respond. 
    Both The Invisible Man and The Hollow Man warn us the danger of marginalization and exploitation, especially in the form of racism. The “invisibility" and “hollowness” are used as metaphors to criticize the indifference and cruelty that are prevalent in human society. By using satire, the authors reveal the dark side of our world.

self-awareness

From the movie and novels we went through in this unit, there is a large group of characters whose attempt to define their relationship with society leads them to alienation from their true identity. From the movie Little Miss Sunshine to The Invisible Man, lots of characters lack the self-awareness of the their identity as an individual in society.

The narrator of the Invisible Man, for example, his home, or “hole” creates a huge contract between how he sees himself and how others treat him. The narrator describes his “hole” as a warm and bright place that he doubts if there is a brighter spot in all New York than his “hole”. “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me”, narrator is often ignored and alienated by people around him (which also made him alienated himself from his true identity), therefore, it seems reasonable that his “hole” is full of light – where he could express himself as what he believes who he is.

In the movie Little Miss Sunshine, when Olive is introduced, she is watching old tapes of Miss America pageants and mimicking the contestants – it is clear that Olive wants to be a beauty queen. However, as her journey progresses, Olive begins to doubt herself and her ability to win. In the scene that Olive disappointedly refuses her ice cream because her father warns her that ice cream will make her fat, and Miss America is never fat. By choosing not to eat ice cream, Olive chooses conventional beauty over happiness, showing how her individual wills are against what society expects her to be – to be a perfect skinny ideal female. At the moment Olive refuses to eat ice cream, the “ideal women figure” drives her away from her true self.

Embrace social networks

As communication and information travel faster and faster, the world seems to get smaller and smaller. Social networks are becoming one of the dominant ways we communicate. Perhaps the strongest criticism that can be made of social media networks is that they deprive us of human interaction, make us disconnected from others, and interact with our devices instead of with each other. In the TED Talk “Connected but Alone”, Sherry Turkle has argued that social networks only provide the illusion of companionship, and that the kind of interactions we experience cannot replicate quality interactions. For instance, we can be in the same room as someone else, but still devoting our attention to our online networks.

However, I think social media and technology are double-edged swords. It’s awesome to have and can really help us, but it also distracts us to some degree of being blind to everything else going on. More often, I would see smartphones as instruments for communication. Instruments that enable interaction on ways that just weren’t possible before, connecting me with my family and friends that way back in China, through Facebook, instant messaging or other services. Some may say that if you want to interact with people, you should interact with the ones around you. But, in many cases, people should connect freely using the medium they feel the most comfortable at the moment.  I do not believe social media is causing isolation. People may have taken their smartphones out because they have gotten messages that they need to reply. Or maybe it is just they feel a bit uncomfortable and are using phones to avoid awkwardness in a crowd. Social networks does not make us more socially isolated. It enables us to connect in amazing ways as human. It is not replacing real interaction. So we should embrace it.

Smiling

When we read about The Invisible Man I was struck with contemplation. I have claustrophobia and anxiety that makes itself more apparent when I’m faced with being surrounded by large crowds, like for example walking through some streets in San Francisco. I confess that I’ve mastered the art of finding all the possible nooks and crannies to get out of the cluster bubble as fast as possible. My mind is on a mission. I think it’s natural to look for that exit among the throng of people or we just want to be left alone. But the story had me reflecting on how that is one of the clearest manners of how we neglect those around us and isolate ourselves. What tends to catch our attention are aspects that stick out, it could be the people doing an act to obtain money. Or people daringly dancing to a small band’s music as others just gather around deciding whether to join or not. The thousands of people that we have passed throughout these years have merely been passing encounters. Or flitting images that we shuffle through. I’m not suggesting that when we’re out and about it should be this deep over encompassing interaction of seeing into another person’s soul, but rather we could make an effort to share more smiles. That right there, is an indicator of acknowledging the person we make eye contact with. We gravitate towards the familiar, which in public can be the people we recognize and call out to. They are significant enough that even as we’ve brushed aside countless people that day, we single out those that matter to us. We rarely meet someone new nowadays because we hold onto the security that our devices give us. I’m remaining true to what I learned over the summer, you can never know the lives you’ve affected by simply sharing a smile with someone you’ve never met before. It could be the pivotal moment for them to decide to keep on living. It makes sense to question your existence if often one is made to feel as if they don’t matter or aren’t essential to everyday life.