Baudrillard: Simulacra and Simulation

Think back 9/11 'it was like a Movie', Baudrillard gives this phenomenon a name, Simulacra Simulation. Baudrillard claims that our current society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that human experience is of a simulation of reality. He believes we cannot separate the image from the 'reality', when we drink coke we drink more than brown coloured water flavoured with sugar, we drink the marketing and lifestyle associated with it.

This sequence from 'Falling Down' illustrates what happens when you realise the reality isn't the same as the image.

Postmodernism-another definition

"A general explanation is that postmodernism is a contradiction in terms, as post means after and modern means now, it is impossible for anything to be after now. The term itself is supposed to be deliberately unexplainable.

In terms of literature and media it is generally considered to be anything which makes little attempt to hide the fact that it is not real, it wants you to know that its been created and it wants you to recognise elements from elsewhere (i.e. that they have 'stolen' ideas from other sources), that there are no new or original ideas and that everything is in someway connected. Importantly it doesn’t want you to view it as being any more or less valid or important than a text which pretends to be real, postmodernists want everything to be equal, they want to remove binary opposites and start again. Students are often criticised for being post modern as they tend to like 'naff' things and think they are cool precisely because they aren't cool (thus removing binary opposites)"

Michael Smith (2009)

Are we living in a Postmodern world?

We frequently hear it said that ‘we are living in a postmodern world.’ Are we? How do we know? And how is postmodernism as a theoretical perspective applicable to Media Studies?

Where do we start? How about some definitions? George Ritzer (1996) suggested that postmodernism usually refers to a cultural movement – postmodernist cultural products such as architecture, art, music, films, TV, adverts etc.

 Ritzer also suggested that postmodern culture is signified by the following:

• The breakdown of the distinction between high culture and mass culture. Think: Black Swan-a film about a prima ballerina laced with a liberal dose of crowd pleasing sex and (psychological) violence.

• The breakdown of barriers between genres and styles. Think: Django Unchained a mixture of spaghetti western, drams, action film, serious comment on slavery.

• Mixing up of time, space and narrative. Think: Inception or The Mighty Boosh.

• Emphasis on style rather than content. Think: Little Mix, One Direction.

• The blurring of the distinction between representation and reality. Think: TOWIE or Celebrity Big Brother.

The French theorist Baudrillard argues that contemporary society increasingly reflects the media; that the surface image becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish from the reality. Think about all the times you have heard an actor on a soap-opera say, that when they are out and about, people refer to them by their character’s name. Look at The Sun’s website and search stories on Nicholas Hoult when he was in Skins: he is predominantly written about as though he is ‘Tony’, his character in Skins.

Key terms

Among all the theoretical writing on postmodernism (and you might like to look up George Ritzer, Jean Baudrillard, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Frederic Jameson and Dominic Strinati), there are a few key terms that you’ll find it useful to know. These terms can form the basis of analysis when looking at a text from a postmodern perspective:

• intertextuality – one media text referring to another

• parody – mocking something in an original way

• pastiche – a stylistic mask, a form of self-conscious imitation

• homage – imitation from a respectful standpoint

• bricolage – mixing up and using different genres and styles

• simulacra – simulations or copies that are replacing ‘real’ artefacts

• hyperreality – a situation where images cease to be rooted in reality

• fragmentation – used frequently to describe most aspects of society, often in relation to identity
 
This article first appeared in MediaMagazine 32, April 2010

Modernism

In the field of art the broad movement in Western art, architecture and design which self-consciously rejected the past as a model for the art of the present. Hence the term modernist or modern art. Modernism gathered pace from about 1850. Modernism proposes new forms of art on the grounds that these are more appropriate to the present time. It is thus characterised by constant innovation. But modern art has often been driven too by various social and political agendas. These were often utopian, and modernism was in general associated with ideal visions of human life and society and a belief in progress. The terms modernism and modern art are generally used to describe the succession of art movements that critics and historians have identified since the Realism of Courbet, culminating in abstract art and its developments up to the 1960s. By that time modernism had become a dominant idea of art, and a particularly narrow theory of modernist painting had been formulated by the highly influential American critic Clement Greenberg. A reaction then took place which was quickly identified as Postmodernism.

Postmodern Adverts

Firstly the advert represents hyperreality because it shows a crisp, as to be what the viewer would perceive as perfectly sized and in theory the idyllic crisp. Although we know this is not possible because of the manufacturing process, the use of hyperreality makes us believe the crisps are in fact perfect and we must have these crisps. Also the use of self reflexivity whereby we are shown filming equipment it breaks the fourth wall and makes us realise that the advert is not real, this is a postmodern effect because it deliberately shows us it is an advert. Finally the advert is postmodern because it is weird and puts crisps and climbing walls together, which before had no link/relation. This advert is postmodern because it pays homage to the film, Untouchables and previously the Odessa Steps, by copying the baby falling down the steps/going down the slope falling to its fate. It also shows irony because in the other instances the baby is the major concern, and so it appears in the advert, until the man saves the cereal primarily- representing irony.

The Un-cool Playlist

1. The Killers, For Reasons Unknown, Sam's Town (Indie Rock)
2. Kasabian, Butcher Blues, Kasabian (Indie Rock)
3. Kasabian, LS.F (Lost Souls Forever), Kasabian (Indie Rock)
4. Ellie Goulding, Anything Could Happen, Now 83 (Indie Pop)
5. Electric Light Orcehstra, Hold on Tight, The very best of ELO (Symphonic Rock)
6. Badiel + Skinner, 3 Lions 98, MOTD Album (Unknown)
7. Mumford and Sons, I Will Wait, Babel (Folk)
8. Chilly Gonzales, Siren Song (Electro)
9. The Killers, Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll, Hot Fuss (Indie Rock)
10. The Beatles, Come Together, Abbey Road (Pop/Rock)
11. The Lumineers, Morning Song, The Lumineers (Indie Folk)
13. Arctic Monkeys, Only Ones Who Know, Favorite Worst Nightmare (Indie Rock)
14. The Wombats, If it's alright with you (Indie)
15. Editors, Blood, MOTD Album (Alternative Rock)
16. Big Pink, Hit The Ground (Indie Rock)
17. Imagine Dragons, Round and Round, Night Visions (Deluxe) (Indie/Electronic Rock)
18. The Stone Roses, Waterfall, MOTD Album (Alternative Rock)
19. Florence and the Machine, Drumming Song, Lungs (Indie Pop)
20. Arctic Monkeys, I bet that you look good on the dancefloor, Whatever people say I am,that's what I'm not (Indie Rock)

Why is the Un-cool Playlist Postmodern?

Firstly the playlist represents a hyper-reality because it is unlikely such a variety of songs would appear every time you wanted them to. Whilst a true shuffle would comprise of every artist before one is repreated, but this is not the case with my playlist, for example where The Killers appear 3 times. Therefore a shuffle represents hyper-reality because in theory we would want all our artists to be played equally, but this isn't always the case and a shuffle can do the opposite of what we want. Such as this sequence from Falling Down we don't always get what is advertised often leading to our frustration and in terms of our music, skipping songs or choosing them ourselves (such as making playlists).

Secondly Michael Smith's (2009) definition of Postmodernism "In terms of literature and media it is generally considered to be anything which makes little attempt to hide the fact that it is not real," can be related to the Un-cool playlist. This is because the shuffle feature creates something that can't be naturally created, because of our subconsciousness to choose our favourite songs again and again. Hereby the playlist is postmodern because shuffle creates a completely random playlist that couldn't be created by humans due to our personal tendencies and preferences.

Finally this can be seen as playlist due the theory of simulacra – simulations or copies that are replacing ‘real’ artefacts. The shear random nature of the playlist subsequently links to postmodernism as it is a simulation that is attempting to replace 'real' artifacts, those being the the playlists we like to create ourselves based on our own preferences. 

Modern Art vs Postmodern Art