A Dark Strain: J G Ballard
Think of J G Ballard, the author who died of cancer back in April, and you probably think of two of his titles, Empire of the Sun - a semi autobiographical novel about a young boy growing up in Japanese-occupied Shanghai in the second world war, and Crash, his 1973 novel about a group of people who make a sexual fetish out of car collisions.
Both books rose to notoriety because they made it to the big screen - the former directed by Steven Spielberg, and the latter by controversial Canadian director, David Cronenberg.
The risqué nature of Crash (not to be confused with the 2004 film of the same name) meant that several local councils sought to ban the film on its release in the mid 90s. At the time Ballard protested a double standard: yes the film contained sex and violence, but it was far less violent than many movies that cineplexes worldwide were more than happy to promote.
But having made his point I'm sure Ballard welcomed the controversy, as it simply affirmed a current evident in many of his novels: namely that a society whose economy is propped up by a leisure and entertainment culture will always be pushing back boundaries, always exploiting and so emasculating taboos in order to keep people hooked, keep people buying.
As he said of his 2000 novel, Super-Cannes; a story of a silicon valley-style enclave inhabited by the mega rich in the hills of the south of France:
'The main theme of Super-Cannes ...is that in order to keep us happy and spending more as consumers then capitalism is going to have to tap rather more darker strains in our characters, which is of course what's been happening for a while.'
A prophetic voice? We only have to look at the market force that is internet pornography to realize that a good deal of technological advancement is driven by the desire to plumb the depths of human depravity in order to make a profit.
If Ballard is right, and I'm sure he is, this trend will only escalate. Jesus spoke of his disciples as a preserving and curing force in the world - 'the salt of the earth'. As his followers, we need to identify those key areas of influence, in particular media and the innovative technologies that accompany it, and ensure that we have a presence there that brings the salve of Christ's wisdom and light.
Jason Gardner
Links
Read the Telegraph's obituary for Ballard here
Watch a clip from the film version of Empire of the Sun here
Sorry to have to point out a grammatical error but "who's" is short for "who is". You should have used the possessive form "whose". In the same way "it's" is short for "it is" - the possessive form "its" omits the apostrophe. I know you haven't used "its" incorrectly in your article but as it is such a common mistake I thought I would make sure that you didn't another time! I was a teacher of English and want only to help, as poor grammar distracts from what a writer says.
Date:
2009-05-08 18:03:07
Author:
Juliet Lloyd