Non-Places and Solitude

Marc Auge wrote the book Non-Places: An Introduction to an Anthropology to Supermodernity. This week, I had to read a portion of his book. The portion that I read dealt with the difference between a “place” and a “non-place”. His references to non-places are that they distance the people from the place. These non-places are not places that people invest emotional value into them. It is just a place where people go, to either get to another place or use that place for a specific purpose and then leave. Some of the examples that we talked about in class are terminals, lecture halls, elevators, a drive-thru, and a bus.

My assignment was to go to a non-place and write my reflections onto my blog. Since I live far away from campus, I have had to use the Madison Metro bus system. So the last time I road the bus I paid particular attention to the people and what goes on in the bus. When I ride the bus I feel like I am not connected to anyone. I put on my headphones, listen to my I-pod and wait until I get to my destination. As I look around, I see that almost everyone else is doing the same. Some people are listening to their I-pods, some reading, and some doing homework. Even people, who get on the bus together, rarely talk. We had coined the term “shared solitude” in class and I think that it fits for this specific example. There are no relations on a bus; the riders are just using this service as a means to get where they want to be. In the side notes of my reading, my professor wrote that people “can become accustomed to non-places (if it is frequented enough)”. This is exactly how it was for me and the bus. I had never ridden on public transportation before I came to Madison. At first I felt really awkward, I didn’t have an I-pod so I had nothing to listen to and I didn’t know the “rules” or norms that are followed when riding the bus. Sometimes I felt like talking to people that I didn’t know but I never could because people are so engrossed in their own activities or rarely make eye contact. As time went by I became acclimated and accepted the fact that I would just mind my own business until I got off of the bus.

One question that I had about Auges’ book was on Page 87, when he talked about the difference between movement and solitude. I had a hard time trying to connect to the message that he was trying to get across.

Also, this week in class we are watching Lost In Translation by Sofia Coppola. So far I find it very entertaining. The first half had been a story about how Bill Murray, who plays a movie star, and Scarlett Johansson, who plays a newlywed, are strangers who meet in Tokyo and become friends. To me the movie makes fun of non-places and portrays them to an extreme. I think that knowing what non-places are, makes the movie better.