Another similarity I want to point out between Nightvale and
Camus has to focus on the time period in which Camus was writing his essays,
which was in France in 1941. Now, of course, because of the spread of National
Socialism going on at that time, specifically meaning the German Nazis, Camus
was probably experiencing a lot of the things that Cecil speaks about in his
radio broadcasts, including the Secret Police, strange helicopters always
flying overhead, and people disappearing without a clue. Camus was actually an
activist in the French Resistance, which from a big picture perspective holds
the theme of him struggling against this much larger force.
There was a point in Nightvale where books had suddenly
stopped working, and the government simply said that they have always been
dangerous to begin with. “Listeners, we are currently fielding numerous reports
that books have stopped working. It seems that all over Night Vale, books have
simply ceased functioning…The exact problem is currently unclear, but some of
the words being used include ‘sparks,’ ‘meat smell,’ ‘biting,’ and ‘lethal
gas’…The city council has released only a brief statement, indicating that
their stance on books has not changed, and that, as always, they believe that
books are dangerous and inadvisable, and should not be kept in private homes,”
(Episode 3). Likewise in Germany at the time, many written pieces were being
banned and burned that did not go along with the new government regimen.
WTNV Ep 3
Freedom of speech in Nightvale is heavily implied to be
highly restricted. Cecil constantly talks about the management of the radio
station getting mad at him because of his willingness to question the bizarre
things that were going on in the city. There was one time where management
(which turned out to be a tentacle beast) came out of their awful and all you
can hear is Cecil begging his listeners to send positive reviews to not just
keep his job, but also to keep him alive. “Station management has opened its
door for the first time in my memory, and is now roaming the building. I don’t
know exactly what management looks like, as that is when I took cover under my
desk and I can only hope that they are not listening to what’s going out right
now or else I may have sealed my fate. I can hear only a kind of clicking
footstep, and faint hissing sound like – releasing steam…I am going to see if I
can make a break for the door. If you don’t hear from me again, it has truly
been a pleasure,” (Episode 3).
Again, this echoes the philosophical idea that
we as people are always being controlled and are in fear of a higher power than
us. For Camus, he was in the resistance against the Germans, while Cecil is
trying to stay alive while also trying to get the people to realize just how
bizarre the truth really is. This is quite evident in what we see every day. We
hear constant talk of the government invading our privacy, of horrific stories
being covered up by the government and how this federal body controls
everything. Kind of scary, huh? What exactly is the Freedom of Speech anymore?
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/01/e5/76/01e576af775eb5759a9cedc795016a8a.jpg)
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