Steven Cao Blog Post #4

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The page I chose was page 88. On that page, Lenny and his friends FAC (From A Community) with a group of ladies in a bar and compare their information such as “Fuckability”, “Personality” and “Sustainability”. This scene makes me feel dystopian not only because of the lack of privacy but also the void of humanity. Human beings are supposed to contact with each other through words and gestures. Although I admit that sometimes appearance is a relatively important part during conversations, people should be able to value these characteristics by themselves and by their own standards instead of a programmed software. The way people socialize in the novel is dystopian since no human-like communication is involved. All they have to do is to scan each other’s face, and the software will automatically pair them up.  I chose this picture to represent the concept of that scene. In this picture, a young lady is attached with several price tags. The combination of technical data and human body symbolizes the techno-orientalism in the novel. Even though the main characters in this scene are non-Asians, it still demonstrates the idea of attributing perfection with technical species. A similar idea is conveyed through this photo. This young lady is considered as a product instead of a human being due to her beauty. The title of this photo is “How Much am I Worth to You”. Sadly, no one should ever need a price tag or any statistics to judge another person. This concept of judging people through a standardized valuing system is pathetic and thoroughly dystopian. Furthermore, the facial expression of this young lady in the photo expresses her sadness. With the lightning effect, I assume that the author wants to demonstrate a depressed feeling since valuing others with price tags is woeful. In this case, the depressed emotion is vivid even though we as audience clearly know that this lady in the picture is just acting. It is cruel to imagine living in a real society where people judge others by a sets of data.

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