One of the major themes
of In Persuasion Nation is advertising and its effect on
American culture. The biting satires in this book focus on the downfalls of
modern America and a major theme is how we are affected by the commercials that
bombard us constantly. Several stories focus on this, while others feature
subtle references to the insidious nature of consumer culture.
One of the first stories in the book is “Jon.” This story is set in a
semi-dystopian world and is told from the perspective of a teenager who has
been living his entire life as a member of some sort of permanent focus group
for the products and advertisements to which the rest of the world is exposed.
The main character knows by memory an immense catalog of advertisements and
uses them as analogies to relate to his daily life. He even goes so far as to
describe his first sexual experience in terms of a cereal commercial. This
exemplifies, albeit to an extreme degree, how the advertisements we see stick
with us and how an effective advertisement will pop into your head at seemingly
inappropriate times.
A discussion of advertising in this story would not be complete without an
analysis of the titular story, “In Persuasion Nation.” Perhaps the most surreal
of all (although that would be a hard distinction to make for this collection),
this story is about the trials and tribulations of characters in the
advertisements that we watch. One of the main aspects of this story is a
critique of the violence that pervades advertising, often for comic effect. By
personifying the injured polar bears and decapitated workers, Saunders
effectively makes us question why these images are successful in inspiring us
to buy things.
In In Persuasion Nation, Saunders is critical of many aspects of
American culture. “Brad Carrigan, American” focuses on television entertainment
with a critique very similar to Saunders’ discussion of advertising. Needless
and excessive violence is used to make the American public laugh in “Brad
Carrigan” much like it is used to sell things in “In Persuasion Nation.” In
short, George Saunders use satire, wit, and polemic to show us how pervasive
persuasion is in our consumer culture.
I agree, Sam! Also, the story we read for today, "In Persuasion Nation" really hits home a lot of the points you talked about. It blatantly satirizes our violent, absurd, and meaningless advertisements in the media. I really appreciate how Saunders can make similar points with many of his stories, but they aren't redundant or repetitive.
ReplyDeleteI said this in class, but I still find it interesting how we read Saunder's writing in "Brad Carrigan, American" and "In Persuasion Nation" as pretty ridiculous and somewhat disturbing. But, when seen on the big screen, we shrug it off as just being an ad. By reading through the script, we aren't given the bright colors that accompany the ad, so we focus on what is actually happening.
ReplyDeleteOur consumption of the advertisements in the real world is almost spectacular and bizarre, especially considering the amount of discussion that Super Bowl ads tend to generate, though, I believe, for slightly different reasons than Saunders may suggest. The violence that is depicted in "In Persuasion Nation" is almost cartoonish and surreal, and not considered unusual by the readers, indicating that while Saunders' works may be satire, he indicates a truth in our consumer culture.
ReplyDeleteI think the point you make about the way Saunders frames these stories appears as a result to criticize modern day advertising is spot on. Saunders observes that we are all so obsessed and captivated by this ironic consumer culture through advertisements, and therefore attempts to reference and critique, albeit through satire, all aspects of these commercials, such as violence, lack of sympathy, competition, etc.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that's especially striking to me about the forms of "persuasion" Saunders examines in this book, which also seems pointedly contemporary in its satire, is the new meanness that's crept into TV culture. Persuasion in advertising is nothing new, of course, but Saunders is tapping into the peculiar "me first" kind of ethos that so many ads and shows are promoting these days--and the scorn for anyone who might raise objections as "unable to take a joke." Seriousness and sincerity are inherently suspect in this world, as if a conscience hinders one's ability to consume to the fullest. Which, in fact, it does. And this maybe isn't a bad thing.
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