Pattern Recognition starts with a disillusioned female protagonist siffering from jet lag. She is thrust into what is called “mirror-world” or as the rest of the world calls it, “England.” This is a real case of “stranger in a strange land”. But we learn that Cayce work in the cut-throat world of marketing. Cayce makes a living by deciding what is going to be popular and what is going to flop, simply by observing consumers in their day-to-day lives. She is completely involved in her job and is very good at it, so much to the point where she has a physiological reaction to brands and logos. The reader really sympathizes with her in that some brands play a large part in some people’s psyche’s as well, one real world example would be the self-proclaimed Big Mac lover, or the two girls that do not know the Nation Anthem but know the McDonalds ad campaign from the documentary “Super-Size Me”.
There were times in this documentary where the film maker literally felt addicted to McDonalds and sometimes needed it to “feel happy.” This is very similar to Cayce, who in the beginning felt terrible jet-lag after her trip from the United States to Europe and consumes a lot of coffee from a trendy shop “in order to feel human again.” ANother juxtapostion of “Super-Size Me” and the Novel “Pattern Recogntion” is the inherent risks in partaking in popular culture. Whereas in “Super-size me” the film maker experiences a series of health related problems, Cayce feels oppressed by some images, especially her psychological reaction to the Michelin Man, another example would be pundits complaining about America’s youth changing because of the introduction of exteremely violent videogames. These are great examples of the masses reacting to the products of coproations set on taking people’s money.
Mohamed Saleh
November 30, 2007 at 2:15 am |
I had completely forgotten about the McDonald’s Girls from Super Size Me until the post. It is definetly a disgusting example of how brands are a large part of the culture in America, and worldwide. I would like to say, however, that just like in Super Size Me where Spurlock has health effects from McDonalds, Cayce DOES also see health effects from the brands around her. These are not just physiological, hypochondriac reactions to her aversion to fashion – she truly feels them as an allergen, which is why she needs to shave the brands off her clothing. As far as the videogames go, this video was no longer available, but I feel as a whole that the public’s reaction to video games is a liiiiittle over the top. Video games and their ideas don’t kill people, psychotic children and adults who have no sense of right or wrong kill people.