I share therefore I am. Is there life after the screen?
After his godmother committed suicide or ‘left under tragic circumstances’ (like they use to say in his family), Charles Valérien moves into her apartment in the 16th Arrondissement in Paris. For him it often feels like he’s on his own: his father has just been admitted to a mental hospital and he doesn’t feel that much connection with his mother, so he’s happy there’s still ShowYou: a very important social network site where he’s posting a video about the progress in his house every week. Not only his friends and peers but also his colleagues and his boss are on the network and give him advice. Apart from the contacts on the website, Charles is not very socially minded. Outside the network he’s only interested in an obese neighbour and an old lady who are both living across. The man turns out to be a known author of bestsellers, while his life is very boring and lonely, as far as Charles can see. The old lady never leaves her house. Even though Charles thinks life takes place on the screen, he has to change his view when he meets Anne-Laure, just by coincidence, without even an ‘event’ of his network. By Anne-Laure’s own account, she’s ‘against the spirit of the time’ and she doesn’t like ShowYou at all. Instead, she’s focussing on her Literary Studies at Sorbonne University and on her own rock band. Thanks to Anne-Laure, Charles rediscovers life outside the network and learns to see beyond the end of his screen, even though that requires a few intense developments.
Solange Bied-Charreton wrote a funny and ironic story and at the same time she gave a touching sketch of the internet generation. Thoughts and considerations are familiar but also carried to an extreme. Enjoy reads like a Brave new Facebook-world, but’s also encouraging: real life comes after the screen.
Solange Bied-Charreton, Enjoy. Paris: © Editions Stock, 2012.