Blurring Reality and the Commodification of Culture in Martin Amis’s Money: A Suicide Note

Abstract

Money (1984) is a satire on the life and fortunes of John Self, an out-loud about the rise and fall of the 1980s, the decade of excess. Amis takes us directly to the heart of the matter in the Self's character by his sharp criticism against the marketing world and wider media culture willingness to serve the rolling of the machine of consumption and the manifestations of shallow morality and moral decay. Scenes kept them guessing and never knowing the end till they read the very last page. Consciousness was limited to the main character of the story, going from flickers to bursts, all urging the reader to a climatic end. The movie portrays a miserable society that prioritized money and interpersonal relationships to the extent that the humanity and prime concern of the people became mere illusion. In Amis' novel the advertising industry is a destroyer shown by the corruption that occurs in this world. Here appearance and perception is given more value than reality or truth, therefore there is a difference between Amis' novel and other tales regarding the advertising. Through Self's job as an advertising executive, Amis shows how false methods of merchandising are implemented with which the audience of advertisements is mentally preconditioned and, as a rule, this conditioning, what follows is the appearance of extremely distorted views concerning of themselves and the whole world. The topic of money is the main idea, and money is a kind of book that it shows how the greediest and most power-hungry people, even if they are socially acknowledged as perfect, can be destructively corrupted.