VLVL 24fps and "the Movement"
Richard Romeo
romeocheeseburger at yahoo.com
Thu Jan 15 09:33:19 CST 2004
--- davemarc <davemarc at panix.com> wrote:
> I think that, in Vineland, Pynchon establishes a
> tragic motif of how the US
> government used anti-labor, anti-Communist, and
> anti-drug hysteria to
> advance nondemocratic agenda. Pynchon shows how
> government agents use their
> power to exploit weaknesses in popular movements,
> undermining them by
> deliberating creating "failures and sellouts" in
> their ranks. There's an
> element of satire throughout Vineland, but this
> motif prevails (in
> accordance with Pynchon's belief that power is a
> sworn enemy of writers).
> Everyone's a caricature, but the caricature of Brock
> is that of a
> manipulative, powerful predator. Recall that in
> 1984, Orwell (through his
> predator O'Brien) is in a position to toy with
> Winston and Julia, getting
> them to pledge to do all kinds of despicable harm.
> Yet it's O'Brien who,
> like Brock, is the actual agent of despicable harm,
> the government agent who
> succeeds in entrapping and victimizing Winston and
> Julia like Brock entraps
> and victimizes his victims.
______________
on a certain level this is true but I would argue in
addition is that Brock's motivation is also personal,
a very dangerous impulse for someone with his power. I
never got the impression that O'Brien in 1984 had any
personal motivation in getting winston and julia, but
was a firm believer in big brother. which one is the
more frightening I can't say though Brock seems to me
to be pretty pathetic in his quest to destroy Zoyd and
in his comeuppance--erased because of budgetary
considerations.
rich
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes
http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus
More information about the Pynchon-l
mailing list