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  • Essay / Indecision in a Capitalist Society: A Critical Analysis of Mr. Robot

    Table of ContentsIntroductionIndecision and Social Anxiety: Elliot's StruggleTyrell Wellick's IndecisionDissociation and the Creation of Mr. RobotThe Socioeconomic Context of 'indecisionConclusionWorks CitedIntroductionMr. Robot follows the journey of a depressed, socially anxious, schizophrenic and morphine-addicted hacker, Elliot Alderson, who is determined to try to bring down Evil Corp, the world's largest capitalist conglomerate, with the help of his alter ego, Mr. Robot. . Watching the show, one might think that Elliot is indecisive due to his mental illness and addiction, and while that is true, there are also times where his indecision can be considered "normal." The viewer generally tends to follow the story of the narrator and protagonist more closely than any other, but upon closer inspection it is evident that almost every character in the series experiences moments of indecision. In a society that values ​​efficiency and decisiveness, indecision can come across as a display of weakness and dysfunction, two qualities that our protagonist seems to embody more often than is healthy for him. In Mr. Robot, indecision affects the actions of Elliot and those around him as they navigate a world where decisiveness is almost as valued as time and money. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayIndecision and Social Anxiety: Elliot's StruggleIndecision is a byproduct of social anxiety. He is present at the start of the first episode where Elliot is in a cafe, orchestrating the arrest of a child pornographer by hacking his illegal content and handing it over to the police. But this wasn't where he was supposed to be. He was supposed to be at his friend Angela's birthday party that night. The next day, when she asks him why he didn't come, the audience sees the flashback of him arriving outside the bar where the party took place, watching Angela socialize with a crowd of people and not enter. In the case where he looks at her through the glass door, there is an expression on his face that conveys anxiety in the face of uncertainty. His hesitation and indecision feed into and further reinforce his fear of interacting and socializing with an unfamiliar group of people. This makes him anxious and, even if he makes the decision to leave, he must seek a safe zone, his coping mechanism, hacking. He hacks into other people's personal data not only to act as vigilante, but also to cope with the stress of indecision and anxiety; he buries his own vulnerability by exposing that of others, which is why he cares more about other people's affairs than making decisions about his own life. Indecision by Tyrell Wellick Being a decision maker can cause stress and failure. Tyrell Wellick, an employee of E Corp., is portrayed as a generally power-hungry character in this series. He wants to be promoted to Director of Technology after Colby's arrest. Everyone expects competence and decisiveness from a person like him. But under the influence of other people's expectations and his own moral failures, he breaks down. In a moment of madness, he kills the new CTO's wife, then constantly runs away or avoids talking to the detectives. Tyrell shows many signs of difficulty making decisions, which puts him in the red in terms of decision-making; he makes unstable choices, he continually worries about the choices he has made and tends to regret them, he delays talking to the detectives even though he knows that at some point he will have to do so. It also displaysanxiety and stress and unlike Elliot, his coping mechanism is to hurt others, to yell at people. He's almost as paranoid, if not more so, than Elliot. Dissociation and the Creation of Mr. RobotLack of determination can lead to dissociation. In episode two, Elliot is informed of Mr. Robot's plan, or an ultimatum. Mr. Robot tells him that they are planning to explode a gas tank in order to destroy E Corp's data center. Elliot is absolutely appalled by this proposition and responds, "I'm not killing anyone." This scene is quite interesting in retrospect knowing that he is Mr. Robot. He negotiates with himself, disagrees with himself, and argues with himself. The more Elliot hesitates at the idea, the more Mr. Robot provokes him: “Are you a one or a zero? This is the question you need to ask yourself, is it a yes or a no? Are you going to play or not? » What is observed in this scene is the underlying reason for the creation of Mr. Robot. It was created from Elliot's internal desire to be bold and decisive, a person who is not anxious, a person who can make big decisions no matter the cost. Someone who isn't indecisive like him. And that's exactly how Mr. Robot is; he sees the world and choices as “binary”, without intermediary. In episode six, we see another disagreement between Elliot and Mr. Robot as Elliot tries to find a way to break Vera out of prison in order to save Shayla. Here, Mr. Robot portrays his logical side, the one that is not governed by emotions. Elliot's indecision gave birth to this totally different person whose ideologies don't even match his own most of the time. His inability to make decisions caused him to dissociate from his personal identity. Elliot and his alter ego constantly clashing creates an internal indecision that affects the choices he makes. The socio-economic context of indecision. Indecision should not always be seen in a negative light, it indicates that the individual is weighing their options and the consequences that arise from them. their action could have been. In the same episode, Elliot faces another moment of uncertainty even though it only lasts a few seconds. Elliot heads to E Corp's server farm to stop the biggest hack the company has ever seen. After stopping it, he checks the server and finds a message from the hacker behind fsociety that says: “Leave me here. » He's almost about to delete the server when he realizes he can't or won't delete it, so he leaves it up so only he can access it. This can be seen as Elliot acting indecisive and irrational in deviating from his work as a cybercrime engineer. Alternatively, in light of the glass-half-full rhetoric, this may also be a demonstration of his decisiveness. This decision makes a lot more sense towards the end of the season when it is revealed that Elliot is Mr. Robot and therefore the creator of fsociety. When he chooses not to eliminate fsociety, he unconsciously protects Mr. Robot's program, which is an extension of him, and defends himself against the foreseeable negative consequences on fsociety by not closing it. Indecision is deeply linked to socio-economic problems. world. In the second episode, Elliot talks to Krista, his therapist, about his lack of control and his feeling that life is pointless because everything is predetermined. Elliot suffers from something that many people do in this 21st century: the burden of choices. In his dialogue, Elliot discusses consumer choices: Trying to constantly choose between two options. Like your two paintings in the waiting room. Or Coke and Pepsi. McDonald's or., 1999.