How Am I Not Modern?: I Heart Huckabees and Bruno Latour

In We Have Never Been Modern, Bruno Latour explains his theory that our view of ourselves as modern beings is an illusion. He claims that calling ourselves modern tries to create a pure system in which nature is totally separate from society, but this separation does not exist. Apparently, the world contains natures-cultures that cause everything to be interrelated so that if one thing changes, everything changes. We have created hybrids that cannot be sectioned off into tiny compartments and be conveniently tucked away in the closet, only opened when they are needed. These hybrids explain why the stock market crashing has as much to do with the economy as it has to do with dinner table conversation of a family in Norway. They show us that arguing about climate change means that we not only argue about science and weather patterns, but social influxes, economies, transportation, latest trends in fashion, sports games on television, and countless other dimensions of life.

Latour describes all that he considers modern as part of a Constitution to which moderns adhere by as they separate nature from society, cultures from other cultures, and language from its true meaning. In his new, nonmodern Constitution, Latour states that a guarantee is the “continuous following of the production of Nature, which is objective, and the production of Society, which is free. In the last analysis, there is indeed a transcendence of Nature and an immanence of Society, but the two are not separated” (141). If we take to nonmodern thought, then society will not have rules that constrict it from expanding or retracting when it is natural just because moderns feel it is best. Nature, which people will no longer be able to trick themselves into thinking it acts subjectively, can continue to grow without being tied to any such fake rules as well. The main theme that seems to spring from the nonmodern ideal is connection, rather than separation.

This book asserts that there are no such things as cultures. The modern way of thinking has forced us to believe that there are hundreds - possibly thousands - of different cultures that are separate in their ways of thinking, cooking, building relationships, communicating, working, and doing nearly every daily task. However, according to Latour, this idea is made up. While it is true that we all have differences, there are no such distinct separations amongst us all. Latour describes how the Internal Great Divide and External Great Divide prevent us from understanding how similar we are. He claims, “symmetrical anthropology must realize that the two Great Divides do not describe reality - our own as well as that of others - but define the particular way Westerners had of establishing their relations with others as long as they felt modern” (103). People have divided the world into “Us” and “Them,” causing an illusion of hierarchy amongst cultures, privileging some while lessening the importance of others.

These ideas reminded me of one of my favorite movies, I Heart Huckabees. In the trailer below, around 1:30, Dustin Hoffman’s character, an existential private investigator/therapist/philosopher (Latour must love this hybrid), explains to Jason Schwartzman’s character, Albert, that we are all connected. He takes a blanket and pretends it is the universe. He describes that he and Albert are in one corner of the blanket, while the Eiffel Tower is in another, and other examples are within the same fabric. This exercise leads Albert to discover that “everything is the same, even if it’s different.” Hoffman’s character seems to be looking at the world through the eyes of a nonmodern, a person who understands the connections amongst all people, places, things, quasi-objects, and everything in between.