{"id":294,"date":"2016-11-19T14:00:05","date_gmt":"2016-11-19T19:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl-117-fall16\/?p=294"},"modified":"2016-11-19T14:00:08","modified_gmt":"2016-11-19T19:00:08","slug":"apples-utopian-core","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl-117-fall16\/uncategorized\/apples-utopian-core\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple’s Utopian Core"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dew Panalee Maskati<\/p>\n

The Apple way of life provides a spiritual path towards a utopia: one in which people and technology operate in harmony. In the years between Apple\u2019s formation and the turn of the millennium, the relationship between the populace and computers was complex. The computer was seen as a testament to humanity\u2019s ability and expertise \u2014 a wealth of information accessible at our very fingertips. It epitomises ideals of the Enlightenment that champion progress through rational thought and scientific enquiry. Indeed, Apple\u2019s logo was deliberately chosen:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Old Testament there was the first apple, the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, which with one taste sent Adam, Eve, and all mankind into the great current of History. The second Apple was Isaac Newton’s, the symbol of our entry into the age of modern science. The Apple Computer symbol was not chosen purely at random, it represents the third Apple, the one that widens the paths of knowledge leading toward the future.\u201d Jean-LouisGass, then General Manager of Apple France and former President of Apple Products, 1987:9-10 (Lam Pui-Yan)<\/p>\n

\"\"

The fruit of knowledge<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

But an understanding of the way in which computers functioned eluded the average consumer. Both tantalising and terrifying, computers acquired a mystical reverence from the populace in addition to being signifiers of hope. For some, this lack of comprehension turned into fear. This is why Apple\u2019s image is arguably one of its most remarkable achievements: it managed to capture the spirit of invention whilst assuaging distrust of the unimaginably powerful \u2018black box\u2019. Its software is easier for the average consumer to operate than other brands\u2019, thereby inviting trust. A sentiment commonly echoed by Apple aficionados is that Macs do not \u201cfight back\u201d in the same way that other computers do (Pui-Yan Lam). Consumers grow ever more reliant as smart technology becomes more ubiquitous. Apple devotees can now enshrine themselves in the iHome, a harmonious web of Apple products, a marketing strategy that only works because of the trust that Apple\u2019s products invite. Although any purchase of an Apple product entails a subscription to its harmonious ideal, the loyal superfans exaggerate this utopian element and bring it to fruition \u2014 forming in effect, a subculture.<\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s image stands unique, because it is a corporate giant that has managed to reject corporate uniformity. The PC, on the other hand, is a computer for the businessman \u2014 who is going out of style. From the curved elegance of its minimalist aesthetic down to Steve Jobs\u2019s distinctive black turtleneck and slacks, Apple manages to incorporate \u201cplay\u201d and relaxation as one of its core values (Lam Pui-Yan). Apple\u2019s new HQ, the second Apple Campus in Silicon Valley, is designed to epitomise these ideals. Once completed, it will become a site on which the opposing streams of the corporate world and hippie culture from the 60s merge. At this confluence we see an impersonal, profit-seeking foundation finding its expression in soft, organic forms that sing of spirituality and a countercultural edge. Curves are seen as harmonious and natural; the sharp and angular, dominating and evil. It was not designed to simply function as a workspace, but rather, to pioneer a new way of life. In the same way that Disney created their utopian bubble (EPCOT), the second Apple Campus is also meant to be a monument of sorts \u2014 to what a progressive future could be (Nikil Saval). In doing so, it counters the angular and sharp oppressiveness of the corporate.<\/p>\n

\"An

An artist’s rendition of what the new Apple Campus will look like<\/p><\/div>\n

Here is an extremely successful illusion at work: fans buy into Apple\u2019s pioneering image with products that are meant to enhance their individuality \u2014 yet consumers are only offered a distilled selection of a rather small range of products. In contrast, Apple enthusiasts see Apple\u2019s alter-ego, Microsoft and its founder Bill Gates, as profit-motivated corporate entities; consumers are merely part of a self-serving, industry-wide formula. This is because Apple founded itself on humanitarian values: its creators were not simply making boxes, machines or money; they were changing the world. Apple embodies the future \u2014 Bill Gates and Microsoft are giants from an oppressive past, to be toppled. To consume an Apple product is to participate in this movement \u2014 this philosophy of life \u2014 to lesser or greater degrees. Steve Jobs is not the \u2018evil\u2019 businessman in a suit, he is both at one with the consumers and their prophet.<\/p>\n

And then Apple takes it one step further, overtly associating itself with creative genius. Richard Dreyfus\u2019s poem became synonymous with the \u201cThink Different\u201d campaign: the poem utilises powerful imagery that encouragers rebellion through art, such as \u201chere\u2019s to the\u2026 round pegs in the square holes\u201d, \u201cthey push the human race forward\u201d, \u201cwhile some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius\u201d. None of the ads from the \u201cThink different\u201d campaign included any Apple products and that the participating celebrities were given Apple products and money to donate to causes of their choice; the producers took extreme care not to look exploitative. They also advertised in popular and fashion magazines \u2014 a bold move at the time \u2014 so as to merge style, artistry and practicality; Apple\u2019s products bled out of the sphere of technology and business, and inserted itself into daily life. Here is a utopia in which human achievement sees no horizon, the individual in the masses is finally recognised, and conformity is rejected \u2014 one that can be carried around in a bag, a jeans pocket, the palm of your hand.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SswMzUWOiJg<\/a><\/p>\n

Sacralising the bond between human and technology has led to an Apple consumer base which John Schully, former Apple CEO, describes as a \u201ccult environment\u201d (Pui-Yan Lam). Scientific progress and the championing of rational thought undermines organised religion \u2014 so, to subscribe to scientific thought also means, for some, to confront a spiritual absence (Jeffrey Alexander).\u00a0 This brought a sense of emptiness to people\u2019s lives. Apple capitalised on this feeling to become a spiritual medium by connecting its image with a progressive, utopian philosophy. The unusual outpouring of grief over Steve Jobs\u2019s death \u2014 the size of which would have been more appropriate for a revolutionary icon or prophet rather than a successful businessman \u2014 is telling enough. Cyberspace has become a modern heaven of sorts, a dimensionless space which liberates us from the constraints of our body and geography: technology allows us to transcend social boundaries. A user on MacWorld says: \u201cfor me, the mac was the closest thing to religion I could deal with.\u201d (Pui-Yan Lam)<\/p>\n

A certain subset of the Apple fanbase has intimately and profoundly connected with Apple\u2019s appliances. An ardent Mac user describes her physically affectionate relationship with her computer: \u201cI mean there has been times that I hugged my computer and stuff like that. I have never hugged a PC.\u201d (Pui-Yan Lam). Apple has this intimate appeal because Mac\u2019s user-friendly system does not control users\u2019 lives, but seems instead to expand them.<\/p>\n

Perhaps even more stunningly, Apple\u2019s most enthusiastic supporters have mobilised to form a subculture of their own. In 1997, David Every pioneered the MacKiDo website as a way to achieve enlightenment through the power of Mac. Every and other enthusiasts see themselves as saviours of humankind, promoting a radical philosophy of life accessible through consuming Apple products \u2014 whose light they believe other corporate giants are trying to extinguish.\u00a0 Notice the heroic, ego-stroking and spiritual language an Apple disciple, known as the Apple Jedi, employs:<\/p>\n

If anything characterises the history of Apple and its users, it is their sense of community. Nurture it. Help strengthen it. Guide your actions in harmony with that which binds us all together unseen and yet keenly felt by the Apple Jedi. In the arrogance of its marketing and the nature of its tactics the Dark Side understands not these things, and cannot fight them. And so, it is in the deepening of this community that the greatest responsibility of an Apple Jedi lies, for it is in this power that Mac OS aficionados can find strength to triumph. (Pui-Yan Lam)<\/p>\n

So here we have the phenomenon of the mac evangelists \u2014 Apple superfans who see themselves as warriors, heroes, and, most interestingly, Jedi. This association with Jedi is tied heavily with the consumer\u2019s search for spirituality: here, it finds its expression in the reductive polarisation of the world of technology into \u2018the side of the force\u2019 \u2014 Apple and its consumers \u2014 and the \u201cDark Side\u201d \u2014 other technology giants, PC users. The Apple Jedi\u2019s mission, amongst this encroaching darkness, is to introduce people to the Apple way of life. And what is this way of life exactly? It is one in which technology is associated with an equalising power, diminishing social constraints and injustices.<\/p>\n

\"The

The way of the force<\/p><\/div>\n

“In this profane world, great business people, such as Bill Gates, who seek nothing but financial gains, are rewarded. However, the Mac devotees are looking forward to a utopia created by superior computer technology. In this utopia, people are judged purely on the basis of their intelligence and their contribution to humanity.\u201d (Pui-Yan Lam)<\/p>\n

These fans of Apple see computers as a \u201creflective medium,\u201d crucial to the way in which they form their identity (Pui-Yan Lam). The computer is seen as an extension of the user\u2019s mind, and the brand to which a consumer subscribes provides key insight as to what their life\u2019s philosophy is.<\/p>\n

The minority status of Apple fans before the turn of the millennium served to strengthen their subculture. PC users, who were the majority at the time, often derided Macs, calling them \u201ctoys\u201d or \u201cpieces of junk\u201d. The harassment the Apple disciples endured seemed to have increased their sense of righteousness. An anniversary issue for MacAddict (now branded as MacLife), a magazine that promotes all things Apple, captured the spirit of the times perfectly:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve had enough. We’re tired of Apple being carelessly labeled as lagging, failing or dying. We’re tired of people maligning our Macintoshes. We’re sick of the slams, digs, and taunts directed at us by know-nothing PC hacks. It will stop. NOW. We will not surrender to the ‘inevitable’ of passively pray for the health of our platform. No, it’s time for revolution. Tell your family, tell your friends. Join us not just defending the Mac from attacks on all sides but also in an assault on the attitudes that provoke them. Join the Mac resistance.\u201d (Pui-Yan Lam)<\/p>\n

From the impassioned tone of this excerpt, it is obvious that Apple\u2019s products stood for more than efficient and aesthetically pleasing technology. This is not only a call to protect Apple\u2019s reputation, but also a declaration of war on the \u201cattitudes\u201d of the opposition: the ignorant consumers of corporations other than Apple were enabling a way of life that promotes business interests and subjugates the individual. By contrast, \u201cmac resistance\u201d is composed of people \u2014 \u201cfamily\u201d and \u201cfriends\u201d \u2014 that are seeking to undermine the system that controls them.<\/p>\n

But it is important to remember that these mac enthusiasts are only a subset of all of Apple\u2019s consumers, and that their movement peaked before the turn of the millennium. Nowadays, Apple has become hip. In fact, the new wave of young consumers has caused older devotees to lament the lack of loyalty of the recent addition to their fanbase. Whilst Apple retains the utopian appeal it held from the beginning, the strong, progressive philosophy that came with the Apple way of life has receded; what seems to be left is the nebulous but attractive aura of a softly fading visionary movement.<\/p>\n

Of course, Apple\u2019s utopian image is not perfect. It\u2019s products are becoming ever more similar, losing the visionary quality that made the brand so appealing in the first place: Wired magazine, in its critique of the iPhone 5, describes the smartphone as \u201ccompletely amazing and utterly boring\u201d (Mat Honan). And the ironic undercurrent that runs parallel to this essay\u2019s argument, that completely undermines Apple and its superfans\u2019 enterprise, is the fact that Apple is ultimately another profit-motivated corporate giant. The truly humanitarian values that may have inspired Apple\u2019s creators have since become perverted: Apple\u2019s utopia is simply an effective marketing strategy \u2014 packaging that cloaks Apple\u2019s true profit-motivated interests. The illusion biases Apple fans against reality. Some are content to demonise Bill Gates, even though he is a well-known and respected philanthropist; meanwhile, Apple has recently come under fire for condoning exploitative practises abroad through Asian contractors.\u00a0 Apple\u2019s products have always been a symbol of wealth and status, a utopian bubble only accessible to some, breeding a subculture founded on privilege.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/span><\/p>\n

Lam, Pui-Yan. “May the Force of the Operating System Be with You: Macintosh Devotion as Implicit Religion.” Sociology of Religion<\/i> 62.2 (2001): 243. Print.<\/p>\n

Alexander, Jeffrey. “The Sacred and Profane Information Machine: Discourse about the Computer as Ideology.” Archives De Sciences Sociales Des Religions<\/i> 69, Relire Durkheim (1990): 161-71. JSTOR<\/i>. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cMacKiDo – Mac Information & More.\u201d\u00a0MacKiDo – Mac Information & More<\/i>. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n

Saval, Nikil. “Google and Apple: The High-Tech Hippies of Silicon Valley.”\u00a0The New York Times<\/i>. The New York Times, 28 Mar. 2016. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n

Honan, Mat. “The IPhone 5 Is Completely Amazing and Utterly Boring.”\u00a0Wired.com<\/i>. Conde Nast Digital, 9 Dec. 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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