VLVL 24fps and the Movement

[jbor]

>> It does seem to me that the PR3 incident >recounted
> at the heart of the novel
>> is meant to symbolise or exemplify the collapse >(or
> fragmentation) of the
>> Movement. 
> 
> It doesn't collapse on its own, of course, although
> the various human weaknesses exhibited by its leaders
> and followers don't help. More accurately, Vineland
> shows the Movement crumbling under the pressure of the
> Nixonian reaction, as the result of penetration and
> sabotage directed by a neo-fascist US government agent
> with the help of  a agent provocateur who proved
> unable to resist the US government agent's temptation
> after a lifetime of cultural conditioning.

Yes, and there is indeed a mention of COINTELPRO in this chapter (210). But
there is also enormous irony in the fact that the student rebels of PR3 are
protesting against their discovery that College of the Surf is merely a
front, "an elaborate land developers' deal", and soon to be converted into
"cliffside vacation units" (209). They want the College to remain as it is,
but we've already been told that the College serves as a "private
polytechnic" for wealthy Californian magnates and entrepreneurs to train up
"docile" workers in the fields of law enforcement, business, and computers
(204). The student revolt, if it had been successful, would have only served
to reinforce the capitalist status quo. So, the whole thing's a farce from
go to whoa, and Brock Vond's analysis of the situation is as wrong-headed as
anyone else's. The satire cuts every which way.

It's worthwhile to note again that neither 24fps nor PR3 nor any other
individuals or organisations of the '60s generation depicted in the novel
thus far have demonstrated any commitment to the anti-War or Civil Rights
causes. The only two characters amongst the youth movement who seem to have
any broader social or political sensibilities are Frenesi, who has inherited
the trade unionist mentality of her parents, and Rex, who knows the "truth"
about the Vietnam War, but is too scared to say anything (207).

best