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From The Impressionist, we witness the downfall of the mixed-blood
impressionist. Via mimicry, Pran does not accumulate the profit from one national identity to another. Instead, his mimicking behavior excavates the meaning of his identity. Although the big Other has already been declining in global capitalism, it still functions to maintain law and demarcate a clear boundary between different borders.
Since the end of the Cold War, the big Other of global capitalism functions less oppressively and more implicitly in society than its imperial predecessor of capitalism. With fewer capital regulations and more help from technology, the big Other of neoliberalism in global capitalism reacts more universally and swiftly than traditional capitalism. As I stress in the first chapter, neoliberalism increases the possibility of the large multinational corporations exploiting individual employees.
Due to intense global competition and weak state intervention, these multinational companies have limited ties to their domestic markets. The labor right of the individual can be easily ignored for the maximum profit of the companies. As the entrepreneurs persuade and drive the government to deregulate the capital for cost-effective profitability, they generate “major difficulties for the realization of democracy through the state” (Scholte 439). When commenting on the Greek
financial crisis, Žižek further writes that “strategic decisions based on power are more and more masked as administrative regulations based on neutral expert knowledge, and they are more and more negotiated in secrecy and enforced without democratic consultation”(Žižek, “Žižek on Greece”). Thus, global capitalism emerges in the form of the neoliberal and nondemocratic governments as well as profit-seeking
multinational entrepreneurs. In global capitalism, the individual workers first need to confront the problems of exploitation by their companies. Then they also have to face a high risk of unemployment when companies stop gaining considerable profits in the
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global market. Their voices and problems can hardly pass through multinational companies to the government. Due to the deregulation of capital, a decrease in social welfare spending, and problems in democracy, the free flow of capital often triggers social injustice and financial crisis globally. These inevitably turn victims of global capitalism into excluded outcasts.
Although global capitalism promotes individual freedom and deregulation, it actually still insists on maintaining law and clear boundaries to guarantee profit accumulation for multinational companies. Therefore, instead of reducing global poverty and improving justice, global capitalism appears to bring about more inequality of wealth and income and widens the gap between the rich and poor (Piketty, Capital in the 21st
Century 23). But, unlike its predecessor, the big Other of
global capitalism hardly shows up unless the law and boundary of global capitalism is threatened to be compromised. The big Other emerges only when global capitalism is challenged and threatened. Instead of following the order of the big Other, individuals live most of the time in their ideological fantasies of the superego. Because of this,Transmission focuses more on the portrayal of the ideological fantasies than The Impressionist does. In Transmission, the big Other only appears when the symbolic
order of global capitalism is questioned or challenged. The first representation of the big Other was the director of the multinational antivirus computer company, the director of Virugenix, Darryl.As the director of the multinational antivirus computer company, Darryl had been promoting and encouraging multiculturalism because it helped strengthen the teamwork that improved the efficiency of the individual and the company. But Darryl had a bottom line to his multicultural tolerance. He could not tolerate having the boundary of his personal space threatened. The threat of compromising this personal
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boundary meant jeopardizing personal efficiency and, most of all, the profit of his multinational company. At Virugenix, there was a department called Global Security Perimeter. In this place, they “opened satellite labs in Japan, Finland, and on the East Coast, so that whenever a new threat was identified, an analyst somewhere in the world was awake and on hand to access it” (Kunzru, Transmission 52). On the surface, employees seemed to respect different cultures. For instance, nobody “took much notice of Shiro’s habit of flapping his arms violently every minute or Donny’s refusal to allow purple objects into his field of vision” (54). Yet, this multiculturalism promoted by Darryl was a fake one used to build strict boundaries around people (54).
At Virugenix, people respected each other so well that everyone prevented direct communication and put on their headsets to avoid hearing each other while they worked. It created a private sonic space that stopped any penetration of the outside world except in case of emergency. To respect each other, colleagues who sat side by side in neighboring cubicles had to communicate through e-mail. Direct
communication could be so “threatening and unpredictable” that it could disrupt people’s access controls and their efficiency at the company (54). Therefore, Virugenix employees tended to eat alone and shun the communal areas. Darryl recruited different people from all over the world and encouraged workers to respect different cultures and boundaries only for one purpose. All this respect of different cultures and personal boundaries aimed to achieve one thing, which was the
efficiency of the company. This efficiency is represented in the unofficial company motto: “Sometimes it is noble to sleep in the crawl space of your desk” (54).
For Darryl himself, he rigorously stuck to the order of demarcating personal boundaries around individuals. Through these boundaries, he could make everyone concentrate on decoding computer viruses from all over the world. Most important of
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all, he could have his own secure space of domination over all his employees. In the company headquarters, he locked himself in his “cocoonlike box” most of the time (Kunzru, Transmission 53). When the indications of computer viruses were
particularly high, he would wear “a face mask and a pair of surgical gloves” (53). He was described as a person who tolerated no intrusion of his personal boundary.
Anyone who tried to have direct contact or approach him was regarded as invading his personal boundary, threatening his sense of safety, and challenging his decision.
When Arjun tried to discuss with Darryl and Clay about the Leela computer virus in person (53), Clay put on “his face mask” and Darryl started “oscillating his hands in a frenetic shooing motion” (136). Under the rule of their company’s multiculturalism, Darryl could use it to guarantee the profit accumulation and his power as the big Other. Darryl's power as the big Other was not threatened until Arjun appeared at his office. By crossing the boundary, Arjun was regarded as a fearful virus.
But Arjun did not know that he was regarded as a contagious virus by the big Other. He thought that he could save his job by inventing the Leela computer virus first and then find the way to remove it later. Therefore, when he walked into Darryl’s office, Arjun was only trying to give them the solution to the Leela virus so that he could get his job back at Virugenix. But he didn’t know that he broke the rule of the big Other by walking into Clay and Darryl’s private space. As the big Other of the anti-virus company, Darryl and Clay cared more about the contamination of their personal space than the spread of the Leela virus in virtual reality. Darryl was very angry when he saw Arjun at his office again. Arjun’s intrusion into his personal space had two different meanings. First, Arjun’s intrusion into Darryl’s space could reduce his authority as the big Other. Second, Arjun’s questioning of Darryl’s decision could reduce the profit of the company. Feeling uncomfortable, Darryl told Arjun to “stay
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on the other side of the desk,” and respect his “space” and “boundary” (142). To Arjun, he said, “This is my space, Mehta. My space. It is clearly demarcated. There is a sign” (142). Although Arjun just wanted to help, Darryl still furiously warned Arjun not to get any closer. He could not tolerate the one who had been cast out of his company intruding into his office. If Arjun did not respect his space, Darryl would break Arjun’s bones with “aikido” and “chi” in his palms (142). In the final e-mail to Arjun, Darryl wrote a message that contained the subject line “Boundaries” (Kunzru,
Transmission 143):
You are clinically ill. You cannot do this to people. There is a LAW. Also Re: your request/THREAT there can be no change. What did you think?
This is policy please do not discuss it further with me. THERE IS NO USE IN CRYING OVER SPLIT MILK. I remind you of my
EXTENSIVE security measures. (143)
When Arjun walked into Darryl’s office hoping to restore his job again, he challenged Darryl’s power, his invisible LAW and boundary. The LAW and boundary were designed to guarantee the position of Darryl as the big Other and the
profit-accumulation of the company. Due to Arjun’s abrupt action of intrusion, he was seen as having mental problems. So Darryl wrote that Arjun was “clinically ill” (143). For Darryl, people should have their own private space. When Arjun crossed the line, Darryl regarded the act more as a THREAT than as a request, which could destroy Darryl’s LAW and boundary. In the end, Arjun’s transgression would wipe out Darryl’s authority as the big Other and obliquely reduce the profit of the company.
Therefore, to Arjun’s request, Darryl could only repeat his decision and exert his absolute power to maintain the Law and boundary. He stressed that it was impossible to change his mind. If Arjun refused to respect Darryl’s LAW and boundary at
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Virugenix, Darryl would use more security measures to punish Arjun for his
aggressive intrusion. As Darryl insisted on firing Arjun, he also indirectly paved the way for Arjun to become the excluded outcast of global capitalism.
The second one that resembles characteristics of the big Other is the
multinational company, Databodies. Today, the big Other is no longer restricted to the image of the government. It also appears in the multinational companies. Compared to the government, the multinational companies are so much more flexible, influential, and wealthy that they can travel throughout the world and cross national boundaries.
The entrepreneurs can also enjoy the privilege of obstacle-free movement and
financial advantage globally. Like the fluid capital, they can travel from one nation to another without any difficulties. The goal of the multinational companies and
entrepreneurs is to locate the cheapest labor and highest profit anywhere in the world.
In the novel, the US multinational company, Databodies, represented the most active and flexible one that traveled with few regulations globally to look for the cheapest contract workers to work for the US outsourcing company while offering its workers little or no social welfare guaranteed by local governments. The multinational company entrepreneurs prioritized their profit over the rights of their employees.
When foreign workers were hired, they could easily be exploited or sacrificed by multinational companies. These employees were most likely to become the excluded outcasts in global capitalism if they were fired by multinational companies. Arjun was interviewed and chosen by Sunny, the hiring manager of the outsourcing company because he could “earn good consultancy dollars” for Sunny and Databodies (9). His remarks to Arjun revealed the goal of the big Other in global capitalism:
I’ll tell you a secret, Arjun—I don’t know the difference between SOL and HTML. And I don’t care. To me it’s all letters. What I care about is
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butts—good, properly qualified desi butts sitting on good American office chairs, earning good consultancy dollars for Databodies and for me. Understand? (Kunzru, Transmission 9)
For Sunny, he paid no attention to professional knowledge. He was there only to guarantee the profitability of his company. Under global capitalism, Sunny traveled across the world to find cheaper labor in India and greater income for Databodies, himself and his American company since it was “cheap” (44) and the most “cost effective” (17). As an authoritative figure who aimed for capital accumulation, he could disregard rules, language, and boundaries. But he needed to care about the salary and quality of his employees so that he could guarantee profitability for himself and his multinational company. In other words, like the big Other, the entrepreneurs and their multinational companies enjoy the privilege of global mobility to find the highest profits, most productive laborers, and highest salary for themselves. As the outsourcing company, Databodies neither designed nor produced anything. It merely profited from the salary of its contract workers. Therefore, when Arjun tried to thank him, Sunny simply ended his conversation by saying “No, thank you, Arjun. Good to have you aboard” (10).
The multinational companies also enjoyed absolute superiority in finance. When Arjun finally arrived in the US, he came to realize that he was lured by the company to sign a contract that was exploitative of him. In India, Arjun thought that the contract he signed with Databodies would offer him a job. But Databodies only lent him the plane ticket and accommodations. He would have to make endless phone calls to find his own potential clients. Although the contract guaranteed Arjun fifty
thousand dollars a year, the company demanded that Arjun pay the company for his visa fee, airplane tickets, and administrative fees, which would be ten thousand
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dollars (Kunzru, Transmission 39). “The job Databodies had guaranteed him was not in fact guaranteed at all” (39). Along with other Indian employees, Arjun struggled to find a job as soon as possible so that he could give money to the multinational
outsourcing company:
Databodies charged the companies he worked for twice, even three times what they paid him, and still deducted money from his paycheck for rent, legal and administrative fees. He had made no money, gained nothing at all since coming to America except a new and harder picture of the world.
(45)
Before Arjun could find any job in the US, Databodies had already started to charge Arjun from the moment he signed the contract. Nothing was free for Arjun. He needed to pay for the airplane ticket and administrative work from the moment he signed the contract. When he found a job, Arjun’s company would have to pay Databodies two to three times more than the company did to Arjun. During the time Arjun struggled to find a job, Databodies offered him no help and would charge him for everything. The unequal contract allowed Databodies to enjoy absolute financial superiority, exploit Arjun, and profit from his future job. Even after this unjust profit, Databodies still had the right to deduct “money from Arjun’s paycheck for rent, legal and administrative fees” every month (45). Yet, all these charges did not mean that Databodies would be responsible for finding another job for Arjun if he were fired. Having understood this, Arjun sensed that he was already in a serious money pit even before he started to earn money. So he had nothing at all “except a new and harder picture of the world” in which the multinational company brought him to work like a slave (45).
When Arjun was ultimately fired by Virugenix, he was turned from a
recognizable slave into a useless outcast. Neither Virugenix nor Databodies had any
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responsibility for him. From the moment he lost his job, colleagues and friends left him completely alone. Arjun was “no longer a real person, already fading into
memory” (119). For the outsourcing company, Databodies could not get money from either Virugenix or Arjun’s salary. Arjun became a useless employee who couldn’t even afford the rent at Databodies. For Databodies, Arjun should be sent back to India so that he could find money to pay off his debt. For Virugenix, Arjun was “technically employed by Databodies” (91). Virugenix had “no obligation” to him (91). Therefore, in the era of global capitalism, the multinational companies enjoy the global
advantage in capital accumulation while the individuals can easily be exploited and marginalized as the excluded outcasts.
For Arjun, losing his job meant that he could not fulfill his American dream, and that he had to fly back to India with debts and, most of all, the shame of being a loser.
In global capitalism, Arjun became a useless asset who failed to contribute himself to the growth of the company profit and economy. For the US, a jobless individual would become a social problem and burden. Therefore, he had to be returned to India.
From Arjun’s perspective, he could not go back to India. Going back to India indicated bigger problems for him. He would live in traumatic shame and serious debt. Arjun had lied to his Indian family that he had started a lucrative career in the US. All his relatives had been anticipating him to come back a wealthy man. If he returned to India empty-handed, he would place himself and his whole family in shame. Everyone would know that he had been underpaid and that he had been lying.
Meanwhile, flying back to India meant that he would not find jobs with a salary as good as the one in the US. With his large debts, he would be working exceedingly hard to pay his debts off. Due to these reasons, Arjun could not go back to India.
However, after being fired by Virugenix, he could not stay in the US either. So Arjun
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was stuck in between and became an unwanted employee. Under enormous pressure, he came up with the idea of creating the Leela computer virus to save his job (Kunzru,
Transmission 98). But when the computer virus spread out and plunged the world into
chaos, the world leaders regarded Arjun as a terrorist:They were calling him a terrorist, which meant that he would probably just join the ranks of the disappeared, the kneeling figures in the orange suits against whom anything was justified, to whom anything could legitimately be done . . . . He had tried to act but instead had made himself a nonperson. (148)
When Arjun saw the news on TV, he found that governments throughout the world were questioning and detaining suspects. He realized that he had become the most wanted person because of the Leela virus. To his bewilderment, he couldn’t
understand why his attempt to simply get his job back without hurting anyone would turn him into a terrorist. Also, he feared the bigger problem of becoming a terrorist.
The media described him as an extraordinarily dangerous person. He was afraid that he would join the ranks of the disappeared and prosecuted detainees in Guantanamo Bay detention camp. In the detention camp, any horrifying torture and abuse could be justified since those detainees were not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions. Yet, he had merely tried to get his job back without hurting anyone and becoming a terrorist. Ironically, when Arjun created the contagious virus to save his job, the virus catastrophically paralyzed the world financial order and exposed the gap
The media described him as an extraordinarily dangerous person. He was afraid that he would join the ranks of the disappeared and prosecuted detainees in Guantanamo Bay detention camp. In the detention camp, any horrifying torture and abuse could be justified since those detainees were not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions. Yet, he had merely tried to get his job back without hurting anyone and becoming a terrorist. Ironically, when Arjun created the contagious virus to save his job, the virus catastrophically paralyzed the world financial order and exposed the gap