The Light of Literature

Alan Moore’s Light of Thy Countenance defines literature through a form of media. The narration is from point of view of a TV that loses itself through the portrayal of many roles. Through the character, Maureen Cooper, and her actress, the voice has shown a sentiment side of itself. Maureen’s record of conflicts especially, revealed the scarring moments that had brought upon emotions of pain and fear. As a result, this cult of personality gives literature another dimension – the capability of displaying sensations beyond the context of words.

The digital form of literature also plays as a time capsule connecting the past and the present. It gives references to many events of the early 20^th century and sheds light on its slow rise to power by creating virtual illusions on screens. It comes to a point when these images have influenced the mass so heavily that it becomes difficult to distinguish the borderline between the virtual and real world. Viewers have gotten too engaged into the virtual works of pixels that its effects have been incorporated into the real world. The most radical example is the man’s acknowledgement of the TV over his partner. The author wistfully depicts this as the deterioration of human rationale that is dominated by a figment created by his own kind.   

This novel also alludes to the struggle between science and religion. Many times, the narration has deemed itself as God due to its ubiquitous control and influential power. Through this aspect, literature has shown us that the rise of technology has indeed erased the many beauties of nature. This is also why I regard this comic book as a piece of literature, that it serves the purpose as an informative and didactic device. Likewise, literature should not be limited to pure textual content, but instead be more decorative with the addition of concrete imagery and reach the audience with a fuller potential.

Expectations and Characterizations of Female Gender Roles

One important element in David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly is the characterization of female gender roles. To a certain extent, the view of Western and Eastern women can be very similar because both women have the tendency to abuse their sexuality and entangle themselves in affairs. The American girls, as Hwang described, come “On trucks. Packed in like sardines. The back flips open, babes hop out, we’re ready to roll” (Act 1, Scene 5, p. 8). They do not seem to regard highly of themselves and lack the self-esteem and self-respect they deserve as humankind. Willing to be let loose and be treated like property, these girls belittle their own potential and power and subject to their sense of gender inequality. Likewise, upon their first acquaintance, Song left Gallimard with an open-ended statement, “…sometimes, it is also mutual” (Act 1, Scene 8, p. 22). In a way, Song is hinting that this refers to their love tension because by impersonating a modest yet provocative woman, “she” has taunted and captured Gallimard’s interest from the very start. By placing this complicated burden and act on “herself”, Song confessed that as a Chinese government spy, this was “her” way to gather information and attend to the diplomatic affairs of “her” country. In essence, the author points out that the despite the geographic difference between the West and the East, women’s human nature germinates from the same root of having to associate and submit to a greater force, such as men, in order to fulfill and be acknowledged with a solid defined position in this aspect of society.

On the contrary, different nations have taken different approaches in response to this act and behavior. On behalf of the French embassy, Toulon confronts Gallimard with his keeping of a Chinese mistress and remarks, “Now you go and find a lotus blossom…and top us all” (Act 2, Scene 4, p. 46). This indicates that the Western’s liberal views gives freedom to the choice of love engagement. They were in terms less in meddling with an individual’s affinity and relationship affairs. In contrast, Song’s duties had to comply with the principles of the Communist Party. When she “allowed [herself] to be corrupted by a foreigner…and engaged in the lowest perversions with China’s enemies” (Act 2, Scene 9, p. 70) and stretched beyond the limits of “her” role, this was not accepted as the norms of society. Thus, Song was regarded as a disgrace in the eyes of the East and was ultimately kicked out of “her” country.

Cyberpunk: Internet Use

William Gibson’s novel, Pattern Recognition, is a classification of cyberpunk, the type of science fiction depicting the dependency on high technology that is engraved in the norms of society. With the drastic development and spread of Internet use, online social networks have been capable of enlarging its role to encompass multifarious purposes. One example is demonstrated through the use of F:F:F, an online discussion forum where Cayce connects with other users such as “Parkaboy”, and gets exposed to the circulating images concocted and examined by avid footageheads. In this sense, online social networking allows interactions between individuals or groups to be done through a more passive sense. Therefore, the seemingly lack of expression given the plain words of text may present a more forward and reassuring connotation, seen through the conversation and emails between Cayce and Parkaboy.

In addition, due to the ease of access and flow of information on the Internet, Parkaboy emailed Cayce footage #135, a.k.a “The Kiss”. The popularity of this clip is due to the mystery behind its existence, but is also furthered by the discovery of an encrypted watermark in the form of steganography, “concealing information by spreading it through other information” (76). Thus, this leads to an online investigation where Parkaboy “gets together netwise with Darryl” (74) and came upon a previous watermarked image #78, cracked by Taki from the otaku-coven in Tokyo. Parkaboy and Darryl utilizes and manipulates the function of the Internet to their advantage by concealing their identity through the fake character of Keiko to connect with Taki, whom they believe will aid them in furthering their research and decoding.

Hubertus Bigend, the founder of the Blue Ant agency, proposes a partnership with Cayce to locate the maker of the image. Bigend comments that “the footage has already been the single most effective piece of guerilla marketing ever” (64) as he’s been “tracking hits on enthusiast sites and searching for mentions elsewhere” (64). This presents the marketing aspect and capability through Internet use. As images are transferred through files and attachments online, the viewing audience increases, enabling trackers to monitor them on a normal basis. The public record of footages such as #135 therefore subconsciously gives birth to a new trend, as determined by online hits.