Emergence
One thing that keeps catching me off guard is the TV in Room, the one Jack watches while he and his mother are held captive. Even though Jack is led to believe that everything shown on TV is from a different "planet", it still gives him quite a bit of knowledge about the outside world.
For example, right before the helicopter incident, Jack spots an airplane in the sky and calls Ma's attention to it, knowing what it is. It confused me for a moment that Jack knew about airplanes, but not about things like vending machines. Jack also calls stairs "stairs" when he first encounters them, instead of trying to describe them like the other cases of defamiliarization we discussed in class.
Keeping the Room's TV in mind, it kinda makes sense why Jack knows about some of these things and not others. Jack could easily have seen a scene on TV with stairs, but without characters climbing them; stairs are pretty common, after all. He would've asked Ma about it, who would've explained them to him. Airplanes are also pretty common on TV, especially in action movies and some documentaries. Jack would also have asked Ma about these.
The seeds of maple trees (that spin as they descend), however, aren't usually seen on TV. If they are, they're probably not the main focus of a TV scene, and are only shown for a short amount of time. Similarly, though vending machines are somewhat common in buildings, I can't remember the last time I saw someone buying a drink or snack from a vending machine on a TV show. As a result, these things would not have sparked Jack's curiosity, and Ma would never have explained them to him.
I think you’re making a great point. Jack is so disconnected from the real world, but yet he still knows so
ReplyDeletemuch about it. I do think TV plays a major in that. It shows him a glimpse of Outside. Not only that, Ma uses TV as a learner tool for Jack, like that one game where she makes Jack recite what has just been said. Who knew that a TV can be so useful.
I feel like the reason Jack has seen some things but doesn't know exactly how they work is because he perceives things on TV as flat. I know he's commented before on the flatness of the TV. Imagine thinking that stairs are flat and then actually encountering a real one that causes changes in elevation.
ReplyDeleteThe set of things Jack can understand tells us a lot about the things we take for granted. It's an inversion where the things we instantly recognize to the point where it would be boring to see showcased in a TV show, such as the maple key and the vending machine, are new and confusing, while the things that are more interesting, like airplanes or airlocks, are the basis for Jack understanding things in Outside. Mundane things are not showcased on TV, so Jack would never have learned about them.
ReplyDeleteThis is certainly an interesting observation highlighting some similarities and differences between Jack and ordinary children. It's pretty common for young kids to become too familiar with the things they see on the television, and Jack is much like this in the sense that he can only recognize objects from the outside world if they have appeared on his TV. It's also such a strange thought that his knowledge is limited so much by what was on TV. Unlike other children, he probably would have turned out better if he had had more time watching television.
ReplyDeleteJack's sporadic and limited knowledge, I think, is just another representation of the way Ma's cared for Jack. Perhaps it doesn't explain specific gaps in knowledge like the vending machine, but if the object in question wasn't common, Jack would've gained no conceptual understanding of it. Why would it matter, anyway, if the object wasn't even real?
ReplyDeletePeople have criticized Ma's approach to parenting (ahem, ahem, super rude interview lady), but I do think her hiding all these things from Jack (muting commercials, limiting TV intake, etc.) was necessary. Hell doesn't feel like hell until you know there's a heaven.
Just knowing that Jack's knowledge comes either from the TV or from Ma, makes it extremely fascinating to learn about what he knows and what he doesn't. The things that he does know are things that whatever Jack watches on TV has decided to add into the screen. I feel like the very basic things like stairs are in because of how fundamental they are, but other somewhat mundane things like the vending machines are a little too niche to make it on screen for a lot of times. One of those mundane knowledge things that Jack doesn't know, or that Ma hasn't had reason to tell him about as you say.
ReplyDeleteRemember Jack *does* see an airplane in Room, near the end of "Unlying"--so this is one rare example of something he *has* seen before, when he encounters it in Outside.
ReplyDeleteThese are fascinating questions to think about: you'd assume pretty much everything about our world is depicted on TV at some point, so Jack would have been exposed to a lot about the world already. But the vending machine is a good example to consider: would it be likely that Jack would have seen a vending machine on TV? Might a show feature one in the background? Maybe, maybe not. I can't recall the last time I saw a vending machine as part of a TV show, because I wouldn't have been paying any particular attention to it. It's pretty likely Jack might never have seen a vending machine on TV, and this leads us to reflect on the countless other things he might OR might not have seen before. TV ultimately gives him a pretty limited and partial picture of the world (because Ma controls what he watches, and mutes commercials).
I think another part of Jack's bafflement regarding the vending has to do with the perspective from which he looks at it. Physically, Jack is a rather small child, and the vending machine would be much larger than he is. In contrast, television very rarely has its cameras rolling from an angle that low, leading to a disconnect between what Jack knows (what a vending machine looks like from TV) and what Jack is seeing with his own two eyes.
ReplyDeleteJack's intelligence and general knowledge is very unique for a five year old. Like his Grandma mentioned to her book club, Jack is very good at math, but has no idea what a playground is or how to act on it. I think Ma tried to use TV as an opportunity to educate Jack on the real world, which has helped him as he transitions to life outside room.
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