Theatre of the Absurd and the Mainstream

Imagine you woke up one morning and you had turned into some monstrous insect. Your initial reaction might be "wtf?!" but this is what happens to Gregor Samsa, Franz Kafka's protagonist in his famous short story Metamorphosis. (Un)fortunately I am not an expert on his work, but it does give us a framework to try and understand issues which seem beyond comprehension.

In the history of civilization, there have been countless things that we have not understood. But in this age where we have so much confidence in our knowledge and progress, issues that have previously been just innocent myth or left to nature's idiosyncrasies are now branded as bizarre, 'absurd', or 'talk of a fruitbat'. Because we are now the leaders of our own destiny having thrown away the shackles of religion, the state, and ideological doctrine. Michio Kaku, the American physicist and futurist, has looked into the progress of technology - there are dangers of course but he seems quietly optimistic. We will preside over the 21st century transition from the 'Age of Discovery' to the 'Age of Mastery', he argues. From artificial intelligence and quantum mechanics to DNA sequencing and string theory, it is evident that science has and will make further giant steps into the future.

But the human condition must not be neglected. For all the development in philosophy, the 'absolute freedom' that Sartre alluded to is something that many have struggled to truly grasp. But we love this 'dont mess wit me' school of customized philosophy, indeed religion is for 'weak' people who can't think for themselves. It's a shame that consumerism has infiltrated this desire of a one-size-fits-none search for identity and purpose; look into your hand-/man-bag and you might find an iPhone to check MySpace or browse YouTube. So it is this confidence/denial that masks our fear about the ultimate meaningless of life, where God does not exist, and the very nature of existence is questioned.

Recent events reported widely in the media threatens to blow the cover of the seamless simulacrum in which reality is represented today. 24-hour coverage of the showdown between Raoul Moat and police showcases our inherent, perverse curiosity towards a deranged murderer who was visited by none other than Paul Gascoigne, a troubled, recovering alcoholic, ex-footballer. The media circus that followed this event came hot on the heels of the Cumbria shootings, where a taxi driver went on a killing spree - albeit with no obvious motive. As a media-hungry public, we do want to know what the motive was. To not know would be catastrophic.

It is difficult to come to terms with events that are so extra-ordinary. The 'absurd' fascinates us but makes us repeal with confusion, indecision and for the British perhaps, a stiff upper lip. A step into the surreal and the imaginary is institutionalised through a forever-recycling media, and comes part of our daily fabric. We notice and then quickly move on. The 'Green' Revolution in Iran which was given much media attention last year, has barely had a mention in recent months. Politics in Iran is still polemic, explosive, and controversial, but for the rest of us, it just doesn't capture our attention anymore.

So inevitably this is what will happen to the score of Chilean workers stuck in a mine half-a-mile underground. With months to wait until they can hope to see the heavens again, they will be stuck with Hades in the underworld for quite a while. It has been reported that a number of the miners are displaying symptoms of depression - like the protagonists in Beckett's Waiting for Godot or Pinter's The Caretaker who expect something to happen or change, but nothing really does. It is the waiting, not the silence, which is most claustrophobic. The media will pack up, go home, and maybe return when they are finally under blue skies again.

Hades and the Underworld: The Chilean miners' own Theatre of the Absurd

So perhaps in our close relationship with the media, we are imagining and creating our own mainstream Theatre of the Absurd. It could be our way of understanding the "wtf's?!" in our lives.

See relevant links:
BBC: Michio Kaku - Visions of the Future
Kafka's Metamorphosis e-Text
Literary Encyclopaedia - Pinter's The Caretaker
Guardian article on Beckett's Waiting for Godot