The Truth Hurts (Transmetropolitan Critique)

Science fiction is not often optimistic. Even within the lush utopias where the population lives in perfect equilibrium with its environment, there's always a catch that most people would find morally reprehensible. A common plot device in the writing of science-fiction is to take some current social criticism or aspect of a society that is thought to hold some fault, fast forward a period of time, and take the concerns to their “logical” end. The purpose of this essay is to show how Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan takes the “instant gratification” aspects of Western culture and shows how instant gratification brings about a corrupt and failing society.

At once, Ellis' City (which is never referred to as anything more than “The City”, with its location only assumed to be on the east coast of the United States) is quite apparently hypersexual, with the first encounter with a denizen of the City being a tollbooth operator with an antenna implanted behind his ear in order to intercept pornographic radio transmissions. When the City is properly entered by the protagonist, “outlaw journalist” Spider Jerusalem, it can be observed that the old advertising maxim of “sex sells” has been taken quite to heart in the hypercommercialization of sex and pornography, with sex even being inserted into the news and children's programming (as seen with the television show “The Sex Puppets”). Sex (which is handled in Transmetropolitan as purely a means of instant gratification) and the pursuit of it permeates every aspect of the City's culture.

The negative to the hypercommercialization of sexual instant gratification in Ellis' City is that it leaves the public open to manipulation by their government. While their instant gratification culture affords them almost instant reporting of events both catastrophic, scandalous, and mundane (such as people hired to wander the streets of the City to listen to the goings-on about them for news networks), the overwhelming glut of information causes events to be forgotten or dismissed almost immediately as new events are already happening. Instant gratification relates to news consumption as well. As a result, governmental abuses are forgotten within days of their occurrence as the public has already moved on to the next sexual scandal or what-have-you.

The focus on instant gratification in Transmetropolitan's society has even eroded their sense of history. With the constant glut of sensations, sex, drugs, and information, it leaves society with very little time to “catch its breath”, which Spider Jerusalem comments on when he remarks: The problem with no one knowing what year it is, is that we have to define backwards, as it were. We can’t say “that year”; we have to say “ten years ago.” Or “the year that boyband exploded on stage when their bodysculpt implants overloaded their skin’s surface tension.” Therefore, because it’s difficult to refer back to the past, we tend to live in the present moment a lot more than we used to. Or, at least, a lot more than we presume we used to... ...So we reuse and reinvent and revamp and lose track of time because we’re so busy trying to inhabit this single second of now as fully as we can. The past is in the way of the present. Kick it down and make way for right-the-fuck-now. (Ellis, Vol. 7, 127, 137) This sort of societal thinking leads the public to define their timeframes and timelines by events rather than simple calendars or numbers. With society having such a short memory and distorted sense of history, it leaves the government able to pass restrictions on freedoms and civil rights (which it often does later in the series) with the public doing very very little in the way of outrage as it remains lost in its own smokescreen of instant gratification.

Instant gratification, however, is not just limited to sex, drugs, and information in Ellis' City, it also applies to religion. The amount of religions are staggering, especially when the statistic is given that a new religion is created in The City every hour. While many of the religions exist to provide humour for the reader (such as a religion devoted to the idea that the secrets of the universe are encoded in old reruns of The Nanny, a sitcom from the mid-1990s), the sheer amount of religions exist to not provide a moral framework, but rather provide the public with justifications for their various excesses and means of gratification as either acceptable behavior or even sacrament. An example would be the character Channon's (one of Spider's assistants) boyfriend Ziang (who has replaced much of his body with cybernetics), who Channon professes to be a “Gaian-Biased Buddhist”. Spider is quick to point out that: One: Gaian-Bias is a West-side sect tailored for people who want to feel environmentally sound about filling their bodies with non-biodegradable machinery. Two: Gaian-Bias teaches that all is one, so you can fuck anyone you like and technically remain faithful to your girlfriend. (Vol. 2, 55) There are other examples, such as the Breatharians, who believe that they can derive all the sustenance they require from the air, and that in return, Jesus Christ will reward them with special prizes. This feat, however, is made rather simple by freely-available genetic modifications. Essentially, the instant gratification culture of The City has rendered religion a means of relieving any guilt over one's excesses, rather than a framework of morality or providing answers to questions that science is still unable to solve.

Genetic modification is also a large part of the instant gratification culture of The City. From pills that contain anti-cancer traits to biological cellular phones to traits that replace the human stomach with sacks of bacteria to provide sustenance for six months to the ability to change appearance from hair color to species, genetic modification provides the public with whatever they want to do with their bodies. Free cloning also allows the production of human beings with minimal intelligence for sexual use, to humans raised primarily as a food source for people who prefer “long pig”. Genetic modification allows the public to engage in all of its vices often with very little consequence. Spider himself is smoking in almost every panel, though thanks to pills he's taken, he'll never have to worry about cancer or emphysema or any other negative side-effects to smoking. The downside, of course, is that with genetic modification comes greater possibilities and expectations. With drugs and genetic modification available, certain things are taken for granted. If one can replace one's stomach with a sack of bacteria, why worry about feeding the poor? If there exist highly effective stimulants and medications for increasing one's brain activity, why not demand a higher standard from workers? Also, with all the constant haze of drug use and genetic modification, it distracts the public from the worsening conditions of their society, and the oppression heaped upon them by their government. After all, why fight it, when means of escape are so much easier, and much more available?

Politics itself is also subject to the instant gratification culture of The City. A large portion of the series is devoted to the presidential election and a study of its candidates. Issues are never really discussed by the candidates (mostly because the culture has, as discussed above, a relatively short memory). Rather, they use slogans and soundbites and pictures of them smiling in front of the American flag. Patriotism is used as a method of instant gratification, a way to feel superior, for the public to be told by the men in power that their society is still perfect and the best society on Earth. Political parties have virtually no difference between them anymore, being simply known as The Party in Power and The Party in Opposition, leaving the identities of the political parties to switch every other election. As the election draws nearer, the patriotism increases. The election itself is also changed to suit the public's needs, with the voting time across the country reduced to a simultaneous window of two hours in order to make for better entertainment, and to see results as the votes are cast. Understandably, the flaw in this is that it leaves an instant gratification culture with little reason to actually go out and vote, when they can instead go to a lavish party and watch the results on a large screen television. As a result, the voter turnout in this society is quite low, usually under ten percent, and the results of the election are determined by voting trends (voting out an incumbent) rather than actual campaign strength. Because of these trends, a president is voted in who is obviously quite disturbed, severely limits civil rights, arranges political assassinations, and is relatively ignored by the public, who is still swept up in its search for instant gratification, until his insanity and sadism are revealed and proven by Spider.

Though Spider does at some points defend his society, showing scenes of people finding love and happiness, and positing that life as he knows it improves incrementally every year, his defenses are of those people who have risen above the socially ingrained behavior of seeking pleasure above all else and avoiding pain. Everyone else earns his ire and hatred, which would probably insult them, if they were ever paying attention in the first place.

Works Cited

Ellis, Warren. Transmetropolitan Vol. 2: Lust For Life. DC/Vertigo Comics. New York, NY. 1998.

Ellis, Warren. Transmetropolitan Vol. 7: Spider’s Thrash. DC/Vertigo Comics. New York, NY. 2002