Theme Of Sex In Brave New World

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Ideas and aspects of a utopian society described in literature, movies and other forms of expression seem unrelated to the freedom of modern society; but are they really? In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, he takes ideas that pertain to physical satisfaction in modern society and exaggerates them. The separation of sex and love, the fixation with age and subliminal messaging and advertising are all ideas included in Huxley’s novel that are prevalent in today’s society.
The degradation of sex in society is becoming more and more evident. The means of sex is changing and the idea of one life partner forever is almost non-existent. Unfortunately in today’s society it is a tool used as means for attention and self-worth. Just like …show more content…

Face lifts and tummy tucks can inch a person closer to the top model they idolize but no matter the exterior work the interior never seems to match up. Even in the perfect society of the Brave New World, Lenina is self-conscious about her own body. The citizens of the Brave New World are genetically modified to be virtually disease free and similar in characteristics and still Lenina is insecure like someone in today’s society would be. John, the savage, is deeply in love with her but when he doesn’t sleep with her she questioned her own body and her flaws. This is identical to society today. Men and woman, boys and girls, both sacrifice too much to fulfill society’s standards of the perfect blonde female or the tall, dark, and handsome male. Both the today’s society and the Brave New World society fear old age. Both societies have different reasons for their fear nevertheless they fear it. When Linda returned to civilization in the novel everyone is repulsed by her. Her “flabby moist arms,” wrinkles and obesity are disgusting to the people of the Brave New World. They would rather looked away or have never of seen her. The Brave New World society’s reaction to Linda can be compared to today’s society with the fear of aging(being ugly). Although today’s society would not have quite as severe of a reaction to …show more content…

However, today’s society is ignorant to the fact of advertisement and subliminal messaging in the media. In the novel statements like “a gramme is better than a damn” and “Everybody’s happy now” were repeated approximately 150 times for twelve years while citizens of the society slept. This aspect of the society was vital to maintain stability because it was what taught citizens the rules and secured their conditioning they experienced as a child. In today’s society the average American is exposed to 5000 ads a day. Think that influences decisions a bit? Subliminal messaging or the sensory stimuli below conscious level and advertising are today’s society’s form of hypnopedia mentioned in Brave New World. The arrow in the FedEx logo insinuates the efficiency and forwardness of the program. The Wendy’s logo has the word “mom” in the collar of the female in the image. This subliminal messaging pushes the home feel and freshness of Wendy’s food. The advertisement of a product affects the person and their choices. Just like hypnopedia affects the Brave New World Citizens and how they think(or do not think) same applies to today’s society with the vast amount of

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