The Text: Is It Real?
Right off the bat, after reading the very headline of this unit I am intrigued by the concept of what is reality and how does it connect to modernity and postmodernism. It stands to raise the question, in what ways have we ‘clouded’ the (traditional) ways of the past and how do we cope with them? In class the other day, I enjoyed the discussion that revolved around tacky-ness and connected this notion to the idea of different time periods throughout history as “pure”. They appear to be more collected as there was more organization behind the way things were controlled. Nowadays, with how much technology we have readily available for all to use and take advantage of, society feels to be moving faster than we are truthfully able to cope, understand, and reason with.
I thoroughly enjoyed the introduction that was a part of this week’s reading because I felt as though it supplied structure to all the arguments we’ll begin to analyze in the coming weeks.
The idea that…
Modernity = Era of production
Postmodernity = Era of simulation
Is genius and hard to argue. It ties into the idea of “play”. The idea of things not being what they seem to be/ “should” be. Some examples from the book are TV and movies representing reality and virtual reality video games. The purpose behind the invention of these products is to see, literally, how successful we are at disconnecting from reality on all fronts. How disconnected can we be from what is “real” and still feel as though we are living. Companies have been able to successfully market this as an escape; entertainment is an escape. The history behind it all has always been apparent, it is just more noticeable now because we are running out of ways to manipulate reality and provide an escape (that is satisfactory).
The power these corporations have, the masses they are able to dictate is what proves to be scary. Scary, but also impressive. An obvious example is...
DISNEYLAND
“A simulation of an idealized America” (383).
“Provides a hyperreal model of the United States that is more real-than-real, generating role models, ideals, and an image of a perfect world” (383).
“Disneyland is also… a replica of a fantasy that serves to draw attention away from the Disneylike character of the rest of America” (383).
I strongly am anticipating the analyses we are going to examine this semester that relate Disney to modernity and postmodernism. I can’t think of a better example of a company that understands its value and the parallels it provides to and for society better than Disney. It is truly remarkable how involved they are globally and the universal connection it supplies worldwide.
Some other quotes/ ideas and topics I found interesting were...
“Duplications represent the ‘real’” (383).
“‘Simulacrum’ - A copy without an original” (383).
“‘Hyperreal’ = more real than any original could be” (383).
“Postmodern.. tends to privilege the medium over the message, style over the substance, and form over content” (384).
“A more affirmative version of postmodern cultural theory and media theory celebrates the new culture in emphasis on the appearance, look, style, variety, and diversity of contemporary culture” (384).
“Availability of technologies that make media production easy and accessible to ordinary people (camcorders, digital editing, the Web) shift the terrain of media culture to include a welter of narratives and images, many of which appropriate and transform the iconography of the commercial” (384).
“‘Third space’ of culture production” (384).
“Perceiving the implications of new media, communication, and information technologies” (385).
The idea of “organizing society” (385).
“‘Catastrophe of modernity’” (385).
“Media audience and consumers are now media users and participants and surveys a set of key possibilities, challenges, and problems of this new media ecology” (386).
“Threats to privacy” (386).
“Technological revolution and the global restructuring of capitalism are dramatically transforming our world, we believe that older modern theories and methods, as well as emergent postmodern ones, are valuable in helping us meet the challenges and changes of the contemporary era, and that there are negative and positive features in this turbulent transformation” (386).
“Technological revolution and the global restructuring of capitalism are dramatically transforming our world, we believe that older modern theories and methods, as well as emergent postmodern ones, are valuable in helping us meet the challenges and changes of the contemporary era, and that there are negative and positive features in this turbulent transformation” (386)
ReplyDeleteBaudrillard contends the modern world is composed of various simulacra that obfuscate the workings of the world. His ideas also had a profound affect on me. As I read, it would be a lie to say I completely digested all of the content I had read. However, like you, some quotes stood out to me as profound.
Baudrillard states the era of truth has been surpassed for the era of simulation. The meta-narratives, and the ruling ideology, profit and gain from the idea of “simulations”. Baudrillard states that there no longer exists a real, but a yearning for that real.
Like you, the Disneyland parallelism best illustrated this idea. Disneyland is a hyper-real simulation, wherein we cannot observe what it is actually based on. Instead Disney itself seems to be the reality. The world in which ultra-chilidishness, and a world at play seems to be a reversion to an original, however, this original does not exist. The simulation is both the copy and the original. We can no longer sense the truth.
Also, Baudrillard’s critique of the left was especially powerful. Baudrillard states that it is the left that is the problem, as it falsely believes that modernity can arise from the framework of capitalism. Also, he states that there is no way post-modernity, the left, and capitalism can be reconciled. Instead, it is capitalism that must be dismantled, as it is in direct diametrical opposition to the society, and must be treated as such.
Baudrillard also smartly states that technology and media itself are becoming potent meta-narratives, as technology is slowly becoming the dominant infrastructure in restructuring and re-organizing the world.
Baudrillard understands the simulacra of Disney and religion and media are working to restructure the world and are intended to continually support the simulcra.
Christelle Ram
ReplyDeletePat, I loved and appreciated your post on the readings from this week. The ideas that Baudrillard presented about what society perceives reality to be, and how society presents reality are both very intriguing, and I think Baudrillard does a very good job of presenting his points on this matter.
The most interesting point’s that Baudrillard talk’s about, and you touch on in your post, is this idea of a simulation that Disneyland gives off. Disneyland was a perfect example to tie everything that Baudrillard was talking about together. Baudrillard describes Disneyland as “The simulation of an idealized America” (383). Disneyland is a place that in a way represents everything that America has done and has become. It has all of these different parts of the park that represent the past, present, and the future, but in a Disney kind of way. By doing this, they get to alter things a little to make everything seem a little more perfect. Making its visitors feel as though Disneyland is a version of reality that is perfect. Yet, all of the park goers know that once they leave the front gates, that version of reality is no more.
“Disneyland is also… a replica of a fantasy that serves to draw attention away from the Disney like character of the rest of America” (383). A replica of a fantasy is exactly what Disneyland is. But, something that Baudrillard mentions is the lack of a fantasy that people believe they are in when they step out of the gate of Disneyland. As real as Disney makes their parks seem, everyone knows that it is no more than just a mere park, made to entertain you with fantasy’s. But what Baudrillard believes people fail to recognize, are the fantasies that people are going through every day that they don’t even realize. Disney is blatantly exaggerating the idea of what a simulated fantasy is, in order to disguise what that fantasy may be in the real world.
I think your unpacking, Pat, is useful here--for you and for others! And what follows is a compelling thread, here, Pat, Christelle, and Ben...
ReplyDeleteAfter our second exam, I realized that we had read Baudrillard about a month ago, and the idea of ‘simulacra’ was something that I could have benefited from spending more time reviewing. Pat, Christelle, and Ben — after reading your posts on Baudrillard, you all helped me gain a better understanding of what Baurdrillard was saying in this long article.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking over Baudrillard’s writing again, he had so many rich ideas and comparisons packed into his piece that it is overwhelming. He had so much to say. Pat and Christelle, your emphasis on the idea that modernism was a time of truth/production, and post modernism as a time of simulation and manipulate has stuck with me. It seems today that we have limitless options now, so our sense of reality keeps getting skewed and shifted. Furthermore our options are often based on a hyperreality such as Disney being a prime vacation spot, or all of the new phones and cars that are promoted by capitalism which create a simulated throw-away society.
A lot of people seem not to care about what is going on outside of their bubble. They are so wrapped up in their tailored lives filled with simulacra, the hyperreal, and the real without a referent, that they seem to forget about other issues around them.
Disney definitely acts as a simulacra, but I think that movies and huge shopping malls also offer false realities. Chain and department store-experiences (products of capitalism, so there is a connection) can also be described as a simulacra. They are a hyperreal in which there are hundreds of the same stores all across the country. That would not be a reality before mass corporations became powerful. Two of Pat’s selected quotes that connect to this idea are: “Postmodern… tends to privilege the medium over the message, style over the substance, and form over content” (384). & The idea of “organizing society” (385).