Underworld

Social alienation is a recurring theme in Underworld, to the point where many of the characters feel completely detached from the world around them. To them, society seems like a series of people performing the roles expected of them, rather than actually living their lives in a meaningful way. Nick is one such alienated individual. To all intents and purposes, he has succeeded in life. He has escaped the relative poverty of his youth, the tragedy of his father’s abandonment, and the trauma of his incarceration to find himself a well-paid executive with a young family and enough disposable income to make impulse purchases such as the Bobby Thomson baseball. Nick has defied the odds to achieve happiness and financial security, but he is not happy. He works in waste, and even his recycling system has an air of performance about it. He engages with the ritual of it, while at the same time knowing that the fate of most recycled materials is to end up in a landfill. Nick ambles through life, craving the excitement of his youth. Even his purchase of the baseball is his attempt to reengage with something that once meant something to him.