j.g. ballard: millennium people

expect some of ballard's standard fare in millennium people. a psychologist. a demented social architect. an ex-pilot. society in transformation.

and even though the characters are familiar and you probably know what's going to happen it's still a fun read. ballard presented a smaller version of this framework in cocaine nights, perfected it in supercannes, and now expands to a larger stage.

in cocaine nights he worked on the idea of the inclusive community that mutates out of boredom. supercannes takes these ideas a step further and has the faults of the community spill out to the outlying area. what we are given in millennium people is a frightening vision of a world in which ordinary citizens rip up their social contract and run amuck.

although we recognize some of the social decay ballard points to, it initially feels like a bit of a stretch. however, as the text unwraps you realize how probable some of what he's talking about is. ballard shows us a middle-class of unabombers. everyday folk descending into anarchy. rather than drowning in anomie, these citizens make molotov cocktails and construct meaning in their lives through confrontations with the authorities.

millennium people is filled with ideas that will creep up on you and ask you to reconsider some of your perceptions about society. in many ways i thought of the book as an extension of certain themes in palahniuk's fight club or as the continuation or commentary on some of what happened in houellebecq's platform.

ballard illustrates the borders of civilization, taking a step past them, and shows us possible futures of a world broken apart.

{January 28, 2004 08:05 PM}