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I Am Legend
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... which I finished last night.
Interesting sociological point ...
"Normalcy (!) was a majority concept, the standard of many and not the standard of just one man."
At the start of the book, Neville was clearly the "normal" one, and he was only seeking to maintain, or re-establish, that norm.
By the end of the book, Robert Neville himself has become the freak, and the infected survivors have become the society norm. But neither he, nor they, has changed. Only the readers' perception has changed.
The last chapter almost pushes you away from Neville, and views him from the perspective of the majority, who are trying to create their own society as best they can. Here is one lone outsider, who cannot accept their way of life, and who makes it his mission to seek out and kill them. Therefore, they must destroy him.
So who are we, as readers, to say who are the goodies and who are the baddies? If we did that, we would be imposing our own subjective viewpoint on the whole of that society. The fact that we are accustomed to viewing something as "normal" does not make it an absolute that cannot be questioned.
And this was a book written in 1954.
Interesting sociological point ...
"Normalcy (!) was a majority concept, the standard of many and not the standard of just one man."
At the start of the book, Neville was clearly the "normal" one, and he was only seeking to maintain, or re-establish, that norm.
By the end of the book, Robert Neville himself has become the freak, and the infected survivors have become the society norm. But neither he, nor they, has changed. Only the readers' perception has changed.
The last chapter almost pushes you away from Neville, and views him from the perspective of the majority, who are trying to create their own society as best they can. Here is one lone outsider, who cannot accept their way of life, and who makes it his mission to seek out and kill them. Therefore, they must destroy him.
So who are we, as readers, to say who are the goodies and who are the baddies? If we did that, we would be imposing our own subjective viewpoint on the whole of that society. The fact that we are accustomed to viewing something as "normal" does not make it an absolute that cannot be questioned.
And this was a book written in 1954.
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Nothing changes as far as society is concerned anyone who steps out side what is socialy acceptable is at best viewed as eccentric, even if further down the line they are proved correct.
Take Punk as an example in the 70's it was viewed as dangerous and for the youth. Now much of it is fashionable and acceptable, is it because the "kids", who never saw it as dangerous grew up or because it wasn't evil it became acceptable.
Neville lives by the oild view of society and he cannot accept that a new society has formed, especialy as he cannot be part of that society.
Bit like politicians really. :-)
Take Punk as an example in the 70's it was viewed as dangerous and for the youth. Now much of it is fashionable and acceptable, is it because the "kids", who never saw it as dangerous grew up or because it wasn't evil it became acceptable.
Neville lives by the oild view of society and he cannot accept that a new society has formed, especialy as he cannot be part of that society.
Bit like politicians really. :-)
You're right, Davethedog.
The story is quite prophetic, from that point of view.
Or was it reflective, I wonder? Two decades earlier, one society (Nazi Germany) had come to accept one particular view of society as the "norm". With the benefit of hindsight, we wonder how such a huge nation could have been so taken in by such a philosophy, and we continue to hunt out those who accepted and followed it.
Interestingly, I wonder why we don't try to find survivors of old cannibal tribes and try them for murder? The answer is that they were doing what the majority in their own society considered to be an acceptable norm at that time.
We are quite selective in our judgments of others, aren't we, and we will always have a tendency to view our own values as "normal".
The story is quite prophetic, from that point of view.
Or was it reflective, I wonder? Two decades earlier, one society (Nazi Germany) had come to accept one particular view of society as the "norm". With the benefit of hindsight, we wonder how such a huge nation could have been so taken in by such a philosophy, and we continue to hunt out those who accepted and followed it.
Interestingly, I wonder why we don't try to find survivors of old cannibal tribes and try them for murder? The answer is that they were doing what the majority in their own society considered to be an acceptable norm at that time.
We are quite selective in our judgments of others, aren't we, and we will always have a tendency to view our own values as "normal".
Nazism was an exception not a rule.
There is a difference between was has been a way of life through the ages (cannabalism) and the sudden circumvention of all that a society holds. It is worth remembering (though not excusing) that the majority of Germans thought that an aparthide was overtaking thier society not genocide and there were many opponents who were subdued.
There is a difference between was has been a way of life through the ages (cannabalism) and the sudden circumvention of all that a society holds. It is worth remembering (though not excusing) that the majority of Germans thought that an aparthide was overtaking thier society not genocide and there were many opponents who were subdued.
That's a good point.
But with all of these examples, we make retrospective judgments about what was good/bad, right/wrong, etc ...
Cannibalism was a way of life ... now it's the stuff of horror movies.
Punk was insidious ... now, it was just a music culture.
Being gay was abhorrent, and an imprisonable offence ... now, well I live in Brighton, so need I say more.
Are we always right because we reserve our judgments?
As a society, don't we love to temper our views in the light of subsequent knowledge, and then say "I told you so!" ?
But with all of these examples, we make retrospective judgments about what was good/bad, right/wrong, etc ...
Cannibalism was a way of life ... now it's the stuff of horror movies.
Punk was insidious ... now, it was just a music culture.
Being gay was abhorrent, and an imprisonable offence ... now, well I live in Brighton, so need I say more.
Are we always right because we reserve our judgments?
As a society, don't we love to temper our views in the light of subsequent knowledge, and then say "I told you so!" ?
But thats the point as individuals we temper our views, but we may hold views that do not conform to society.
You may have someone who likes to dress in womens clothes (male obviously) he is comfortable and happy but he dare not reveal it because all his friends would percive him differently and may exclude him.
Have you ever seen the film "Twelve angry men" it perfectly illistrates the point. Henry Fonda plays a juror who alone out of the 12 thinks the person on trial is innocent or at least worth thebenifit of doubt.
At the start he is the outcast at odds with the other 11 over the course of the film he gets them all to change to his way of thinking. It is society in microcosom.
You may have someone who likes to dress in womens clothes (male obviously) he is comfortable and happy but he dare not reveal it because all his friends would percive him differently and may exclude him.
Have you ever seen the film "Twelve angry men" it perfectly illistrates the point. Henry Fonda plays a juror who alone out of the 12 thinks the person on trial is innocent or at least worth thebenifit of doubt.
At the start he is the outcast at odds with the other 11 over the course of the film he gets them all to change to his way of thinking. It is society in microcosom.
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