Scholarly record

DYSTOPIA IN PRACTICE... (?) "ACOUSTIC WALLPAPER" IN THE CONTEMPORARY COMMERCIAL SPACE

Sylwia Makomaska

Abstract

One of the most famous futuristic dystopia in the literature of the twentieth century is the novel of a British prose writer and essayist Aldous Huxley. "Brave New World" (1932) is the vision of a society that has reached a state of total organization and has achieved the ideal of universal happiness. One of the many tools of the social control in the hands of the authorities is the programmed "synthetic music", which meticulously fills every space. A similar image of background music appears in George Orwell's novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” (1949). This is a very bleak vision of a society under total indoctrination, controlled, observed, hounded, misinformed and uncertain the next day. “Big Brother” – a chief controller is watching everyone, it is not possible to hide. Music provided by the authorities encroaches on the private space of the citizens and trickled from “telescreens” (which operate as both televisions and security cameras) at their homes. In both cases background music, woven into the machinery of social engineering, is a tool of manipulation, which has led to the "creation" of calm, predictable, homogeneous and obedient individuals. Does the vision of acoustic engineering created in the novels of Huxley and Orwell also apply to the modern times? The aim of the present paper is an attempt to answer the above question by analyzing the functions of background music in modern culture dominated by media and ubiquitous music. In this context the special attention will be paid to the specific role of acoustic sphere in the modern commercial places, in which music is to contribute to enforce certain behaviors, so that the recipient could better adjust themselves to the "consumption conveyor".

Publication details

Back to publication list