VOL. IV (XXI) 2009 - Departamentul de Filosofie si Stiinte ale ...

ADINA BAYA 99
theorizes as the “medicalization” of consumption 24 driven by an obsessive
concern for one’s health. “Homo consumericus” turns more and more into
“homo sanitas”—a person who not only is prone to large-scale consumption
of medicines, but also of press articles or television shows on health-related
issues. The TV and radio’s omnipresent voices in White Noise often fill this
need in particular. From how to “sit half lotus and think about our spines” to
“getting mixed messages about my sexuality” or all about “excesses of salt,
phosphorous, magnesium,” media is an unremitting resource of data
regarding people’s physical or emotional well-being 25 . The recurrent
discussions in the Gladney family on such issues, including whether Babette
should chew gum or not, what are the causes for her memory loss, or what is
the latest medical advice her daughter Denise found in the “Physician’s Desk
Reference,” serve as evidence for the identification of the Gladneys as
hyperconsumers deeply preoccupied with healthiness. Their perpetual
concern for adopting ways of eating and living that would limit the possibility
of contracting any diseases is consequent to the advent of a “religion of
health,” 26 in the name of which people should constantly research and
evaluate the risks posed by the products they consume, regularly consult
with medical practitioners, correct their living habits and try to postpone the
effects of ageing for as long as possible.
Finding and preserving health and happiness are regarded as duties
by hyperconsumers, which explains the attractive aura of a drug that would
facilitate both, albeit superficially, only from an apparent perspective. As
Baudrillard believes:
“[…] consumerist man [l'hommeconsommateur] regards
enjoyment as an obligation; he sees himself as an enjoyment
and satisfaction business. He sees it as his duty to be happy,
loving, adulating/adulated, charming/charmed, participative,
euphoric and dynamic. This is the principle of maximizing
existence by multiplying contacts and relationships, by intense
use of signs and objects, by systematic exploitation of all the
potentialities of enjoyment.” 27
With its capacity to annihilate fear of death, though obviously not
eradicating the cause of death as such, Dylar is precisely the type of drug
that would be found in the “drugstores of happiness.” A
“psychopharmaceutical” pill, meant to interact with the human cortex, Dylar is
“not just a powerful tranquilizer,” but one that “interacts with
neurotransmitters in the brain that are related to the fear of death.” 28 The use
of such psychotropic medicines can be interpreted, according to
24 Lipovetsky, 2007, p. 43-45 (My translation).
25 DeLillo, 1986, p. 7, 90, 106.
26 Lipovetsky, 2007, p. 45 (My translation).
27 Baudrillard, 1998, p. 81
28 DeLillo, 1986, p. 90