Simulacra or Hyper-Real?

Chris texted me a few minutes ago with a Baudrillard question. I somewhat convinced him to purchase his own copy of Simulacra and Simulation, and he’s hopped on this hyper-real crusade with me. The text was: Simulacra is a copy without an original, right? I said no, because simulacra are a representation of something, real or not. A simulacrum in itself is saying that this object, or perhaps idea, is representing something of greater value than the models suggest. What Chris was referring to is the hyper-real, when an object is copied without a source. He replied: But is what I said the right way to say/understand it for simpler minds. Again, absolutely not. One acknowledges the significant connection of the object, and the other challenges it. I’m going to give two examples. First, a simulacrum, for those of you who practice any of the Christian faiths, typically you would see the image of the crucifix in your church. For those who believe, it would represent something greater than two pieces of wood. Second, I’m going to throw my favorite film at you, The Matrix:

Simulacra and Simulation is the book Neo opens in The Matrix right before he enters the rabbit hole. The third movie ends with a grim exposure, showing that The Matrix itself was a hyper-real and the human mind is turned into an agent of the system. Without meaning, the agent dies, thus the need for the human mind dies. The Matrix is a hyper-real for the human mind, a fiction to simulate the freedom from a physical bondage.

Read Full Post »

Wired Differently

It’s been a very tiring few days. I really wish that I had more to blog about. In reality, I do, but lately I’ve had lapses of reflection—most of which are a little to personal to publicize.

I’ve been thinking about the work I did that Visual Design Concepts course. A lot of enlightening moments in that class actually stemmed from reflective, critical thought. Comparing all the reading I’ve been doing on Baudrillard lately with the outcome of my work, I can really see some things about myself I was afraid to acknowledge before. I’ve also been looking into studies about kids who grew up in front of screens and how they are ‘wired’ differently then normal people. I’m on to something and I’m hoping to be able to carve it out into a nonfiction story. I hope it works out.

My father was incredibly ill the other day, and it really had my thinking about my own mortality to see him fall to the ground shivering.

Hannaford is really lame, but It’s conducive to putting money into my bank account. I don’t get paid until next Thursday, though.

So many books… So little time to read them all…

Read Full Post »