Finding Patterns in 'Pattern Recognition'

Marketing and Commodification-

The author explores the advent of ' advertising' for products becoming the driving force of innovation. The ability to create a media campaign that can be consumed and marketed perfectly to the reviving audience, is the golden grail.

“Far more creativity today, goes into the marketing of products than into the products themselves, athletic shoes or feature films. That is why I founded Blue Ant: that one simple recognition.”
Bigend, Pg 67.

In essence, the product itself is no longer important. The 'how' of captivating interest and grabbing on to a 'hot trend' is more important than the product itself.

The author also explores the desire for marketing companies to be up to date with the current trends of the day. However, that time consuming endeavor has spiraled into the creation of the newest marketing ploy, the creation of trends by the marketing firms themselves.

'”Exactly,” Cayce says, “but that's why it works. They don't buy the product: they recycle the information. They use it to try to impress the next person they meet.”'
- Magda, Pg 85

I believe the author at this point, is trying to illustrate that products are no longer the driving force of capitalism. The ability to make a product 'cool' surpasses the desire to make a product superior. The character's quest to find out the creator of the 'footage' is an overt statement of this fact. Bigend has appealed to Cayce's desires to find the creator, in order to reproduce 'excellence' that can be controlled on the world stage. Therefore, 'marketing' is the new product that is being coveted in the 21st century.


Post-9/11 Social Commentary.

9/11 is a constant backdrop to the novel's plot, characters and theme. The constant paranoia exhibited by Cayce, can be an allusion to the general feelings of the US public in the wake of 9/11. The 'James Bond' like procedures Cayce undertakes to 'secure the perimeter' of Daimen's apartment can be an allusion to the threat of the post 9/11 Patriot Act.
More so, 9/11 is a constant motif that has effects the language and emotions of the characters. For example, Dorotea's query about the winter in New York.

“How was the winter then in New York?”
“Cold,” Cayce says.
“And Sad? It is still sad?”
-Dorotea, Pg 13

The post 9/11 world colors the mood of the story. The characters seemed to live in a bleak setting with no hope for a renaissance like existence.

The post 9/11 motif makes the idea of hoping for the future an exercise in futility.

“For us, of course things can change so abruptly, so violently, so profoundly, that futures like our grandparents' have insufficient 'now' to stand on. We have no future because our present is too volatile.”
-Bigend, Pg 57

The author in a sense, states that the idea of hope died with the events of 9/11. The sudden fall of the towers illustrates the character's belief that the present is chaotic that cannot be predicted.
This also might piggyback onto Bigend's desire to find the creator of the 'footage.' By extension, finding the creator would mean the discovery of the 'marketing' technique that allows the user to create trends. In essence, Bigend would be able to manage the chaos of the post 9/11 world by discovering the creator of the 'footage.'