He defines the spectacle as being, “not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images.” Like Baudrillad, Debord writes that, “the spectacle subjugates living men to itself to the extent that the economy has totally subjected them. He referred to this phenomenon as the Spectacle. Situationist Internationalist, Guy Debord, wrote of this phenomenon 15 years before Baudrillard and he used a somewhat different language and more optimistic tone. And this hyperreality, Baudrillard and the SI argue, is where we all exist is what is produced and reproduced ad nauseam in myriads ways and, ultimately, inescapable…(?) And the primary terrain of our lives involves the relations amongst ourselves. Whereas the original landscape in the map example simply changed with time, our society actively destroys the original terrain – it must. Simulation in our post-productive society involves the destruction of the real that used to serve as a basis for the symbols, simulacra, and simulations. Simulation is the production and relation of these symbols. These types of simulacra, Baudrillard argues, inundate our reality to such an extent that our real society is replaced by a hyperreal one – regulated, maintained, and propagated by such symbols and their relations to one another. What is being created is an illusion, an impression, a simulacra and simulation of an Irish pub so that this particular drinking establishment can offer a “real” experience of Ireland to its patrons (and distinguish itself from other bars so it can establish an economic advantage). There is no authentic Irish pub that serves as the model for this typical American “Irish pub.” Certainly, elements from it could be found in a real Irish pub, but taken as a whole there is no original. A dingy dive, decorated with four-leaf clovers, leprechauns (fighting or otherwise), fire station paraphernalia, advertisements for Irish alcohol, some of which is served on tap there may even be an Irish folk singer that plays regularly, perhaps Irish cuisine is served - all this gives the impression that one is really in Ireland, or at least in a bar that one could find there. This map, for those who live according to it, is the real – for they know no better: that it is merely a copy.īaudrillard’s example isn’t exact enough, though, because the map is a copy of original terrain. This map is a hyperreal terrain, indistinguishable from the real terrain that it once emulated, covered, and now obscures. It is the map that has become the “real” territory by which the people live. Ultimately, Baudrillard says, the landscape changes but the map does not change with it. Such a map would be as big as the territory and would include topography to mimic the topography of the original landscape. Baudrillard originally uses the example of a map so detailed that it covers exactly the land it is supposed to be representing. It gives a more thorough understanding of key concepts in Baudrillard’s philosophy as well as that of the Situationists International (SI).Īs previously defined, simulacra is a copy without an original. This post serves as the primer mentioned in the previous post.
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