In today’s culture, the Internet and concept of social networking sites are everywhere and everyone seems dependent on it—if not addicted. However when this novel is set, the concept of social network is just introduced. But the culture is still very dependent on the Internet.
There are also dangers with the Internet and the social networking world, and Gibson definitely discusses the in his novel. Someone once told me that the Internet is “written in ink.” I definitely agree with them because with the Internet and especially the social networking sites, once something is written, it cannot be taken back. Also with the Internet, everything can be traced back to its origin, and that is an idea that Gibson focuses in on his novel. Then as the story and plot progresses, many of the characters, Cayce in particular, become more aware of the possibility for people to read everything they write—even when it is a personal email.
Relationships between style and culture:
The relationship between style and culture is probably significantly stronger than most people would assume. In Pattern Recognition, Cayce is a design consultant, but she is ironically allergic to brand products and basically popular logos in general. So while she searches for the next “cool” thing in style and culture, she herself actually stays away from most trendy items. And while this seems unusual especially for a design consultant, Cayce still recognizes the importance of patterns in style and how that dramatically affects our culture.
Our current culture is definitely driven by style and trends. For starters, part of every culture is characterized by their fashions: different cultures have different fashions. From a trends perspective, our culture is also based off of what is “cool” or “trendy.” Ranging from the “cool” restaurants, to the “trendy” coffee shop, they all characterize culture. Even in terms of pop culture, music, and movies, the trendiest usually do the best and will define our culture and how others see us.
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