Based on the video Jacques Ellul argues that although our society is more advanced at the moment, we do not use freedom to its limit. The the video it says that freedom does not exist in today’s society. Although we have many advanced vehicles and technology we always use it to do the same things everyday. An example would be going to school by car or train. We take the same train at the same time everyday and we do not take it anywhere else. We do not use the technology to its fullest by not exploring and going to other places. In today society we have so many new and advanced technology, like; laptops, faster internet, new iPhone’s and Androids, drones and robots. People have knowledge of these technology and buys it but literally uses it for the same reason everyday. We use our faster internet to just play games, watch videos and just scroll down on social media looking at whats happening and maybe some people reading the news or doing homework online. We do not use it for other purposes besides our entertainment and not using it to its full potential.
There is an connection with The Visit, the town was dirt poor and has no technology and they do not take responsibility for these effects it had on their town. Alfred Ill died because he took a bribe no one was responsible for his death because they started to justify themselves and made themselves believe they did nothing wrong and it is not their fault that Alfred had died.
There is a connection between both The Visit and the video by Jacques Ellul and the theme of both is individuality. Jacques Ellul gave an example based on a airport and its how we huddle in masses although there is an fake belief that the new technology gives freedom. In the airport we are always in masses, some of them are random people maybe on your same flight so you travel with them in a coherent mass. In The Visit, everyone has the same shoes and were stopping Alfred from getting on the train. It is like another big huddle of a coherent mass of people with yellow shoes. In both of these excerpt it explains that based on these coherent masses, people lose their individuality.
You seem to be getting at the heart of the matter, but it’s not coming across too clearly (especially in the second paragraph). You touch on the buying of the shoes in The Visit as being the node at which you connect Dürrenmatt’s play to Ellul’s interview. Could you go further? What does the buying on credit say about the responsibility of the citizens of Güllen? Remember the debt/guilt link we pointed out that exists in the original German (Schuld). Guilt and Debt are the same. Dürrenmatt is making a strong point here as to who is responsible for Ill’s death. 4/5