Illusion of Freedom in the Modern Digital Age: A Literary Analysis of Extras (2007) in the Realm of Surveillance Capitalism

Abstract

This research explores the observation that human beings in the modern world are not free; usually their choices are influenced by subtle mechanisms of control in the modern digital world. The study tackles the illusion of freedom, by examining a work of fiction that mirrors the modern world. The chosen text is Scott Westerfeld’s novel Extras (2007), which tells the story of a future city which functions under the system of reputation economy, where everyone's interpersonal value is determined by an open popularity score called a "face rank." The story revolves around a 15years old girl, Aya Fuse, who considers herself an “Extra” due to lack of public face rank. Throughout the story, she thinks her actions to be free and her desire to become famous by “kicking” a unique story as a conscious decision, but usually her actions are wrapped in a desire to get social validation and recognition even if it means to steal a story of “sly girls”, a group that hates fame and, as an act of rebellion and hacking the system, adventures on maglev trains without recording it. The purpose of this research is to build a concrete understanding of how this happens. It uses a theory called "surveillance capitalism," developed by Shoshana Zuboff, which explains how companies treat common users’ private online actions as free raw material to predict what they are likely to do next. This study aims to connect this theory to the relatable story in Extras (2007). To do this, the study uses textual analysis, which means closely reading and interpreting the novel. By applying the key concepts of modern digital economic logic and a comprehensive theory, surveillance capitalism, the research demonstrates that the unreal "reputation economy" is not just a sci-fi plot but a reflection of real world digital control, where the illusion of freedom stems not from the existence of freedom but the lack of awareness of how the big tech companies conduct their economic actions. This research shows that Westerfeld’s novel acts as a warning by showing a society that is based on steady scoring and ranking, modifying individuals’ behavior from the inside out, making them complicit in their own control and creating an illusion of freedom.