Simulacra / Simulation
From Metapedia
Contents |
Definitions - From the OED
Simulation: a. the action of practice of simulating, with an intent to deceive; b. a false assumption or display, a surface resemblance or imitation of something; c. the technique of imitating the behavior of some situation or process... by means of a suitably analogous situation or apparatus.
Simulacrum: a. a material image, made as a representation of some deity, person, or thing; b. something having merely the form or appearance of a certain thing, without possessing its substance or proper qualities; c. a mere image, a specious imitation or likeness of something.
The distinction between the simulation and the simulacrum is subtle, but seems to be that the simulation has to do with a process or a situation, while the simulacrum is static, an image. The simulation includes such practices as the fire drill, the flight simulator, or the psychosomatic disorder, according to Baudrillard. The simulacrum might include the photorealist painting (according to Frederic Jameson), the Trompe l'oeil, and Pop Art.
Concepts of Simulation
Concepts of simulacra and simulation have circulated in society from very early times. Plato considered the simulacrum a debased version of reality, thus calling into question the very possibility of an "exact copy" equal to the original. In "Simulacrum" (in Critical Terms for Art History), Michael Camille interprets Plato's evaluation of the simulacrum in The Republic: "The simulacrum is more than just a useless image, it is a deviation and perversion of imitation itself - a false likeness" (31-32). The simulacrum is deceptive; it results in confusion for the human subject over what is false, what true.
Gilles Deleuze, in his article "Plato and the Simulacrum," takes a similar view of the simulacrum. The simulacrum is not merely "a copy of a copy" (as it is most simply defined); it represents a unique phenomenon in which the distinction between copy and model is fundamentally eroded. The existence of the simulacrum thus traps human subjects into a world of copies and copies of copies - a world where representation and re-representation are indistinguishable and the "real" is forever removed from immediate experience.
The simulacrum is thus conceived of as quite powerful, having profound effects on our experience of the world. It was Nietzsche who claimed that "power always wears a mask"; the extension of this claim would be to reveal "the mask" as the very simulacrum of the masked - as an "exact" but false representation of the actual. The strategic power of the simulacrum is a subject taken on by Jacques Lacan, in his writing on mimicry. Like mimicry in nature, the simulacrum in the socio-cultural world is strategic camouflage. Its power lies in its ability to trick, to mask, to conceal its life force.
Jean Baudrillard and Simulacra/Simulation
Jean Baudrillard's theories relating to simulation and simulacra are rooted in his work on sign systems, in which he questions the existence of a "real" referent outside of the system. Baudrillard argues that the notion of the sign referring to some external, solid, "real" object is an illusion. Instead, it is the sign system itself which generates its own referents, in the form of what Baudrillard calls, the "simulacrum."
In Symbolic Exchange and Death (1976), Baudrillard elaborates his theory of simulacra and simulation. He divides the history of the production of simulacra into three eras:
1) Classical: From the time period of roughly the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution, simulation occurs in the form of counterfeiting
2) Industrial: Simulation is affected by the technologies of mass production and standardization, which allow the infinite reproducibility of (mainly) consumer objects
3) Postmodern: During contemporary times, digital technologies and advanced communication networks have altered human subjectivity itself; simulation is the norm and pervades every aspect of human experience
In Simulacra and Simulations (1981) [1], Baudrillard addresses the third era of the history of the production of simulacra - namely, our contemporary postmodern order, in which the status of the "real" is in great flux. According to Baudrillard, the "real" is no longer a valid notion; instead, one must speak of the "hyperreal," which does away with the myth of referentiality and instead, operates entirely within the system of simulation. Hyperreality, for Baudrillard, signals the "death of the real, or rather... its (re)surrection, hyperreality both emerges and is already always reproducing itself. The dead are already dead; precisely more than the living which are yet alive. God himself has only ever been his own simulacrum..." (from Jean Baudrillard, "The Precession of Simulacra"). Such a view of contemporary society seems bleak; indeed, Baudrillard's writing inherits a Nietzschean austerity that paints the world as apathetic, banal, and depthless. This said, however, others have pointed to Baudrillard's writing on simulacra and simulation as a much-needed warning bell or even a call to arms. Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid), for example, writes about Baudrillard as "the philosopher who gave us a cautionary tale about simulation." Reading Baudrillard as an inspiration to question and enact change, rather than as a condemnation of contemporary socity, DJ Spooky writes:
"In a world where bleak man made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social and environmental developments cannot be denied, his (Baudrillard's) words were a beacon of how we can reason through the myriad ways that we humans have displaced the natural world... (Baudrillard's work represents) a simple cry for new ways to perceive how the mass media-landscape inadvertantly invades and splinters the private mind of the individual."
--- DJ Spooky, "Jean Baudrillard: Philosopher of the Mash-Up - In Memoriam" published in the French newspaper Le Nouvel Observateur, accessed on the website http://www.djspooky.com/articles.html.
Simulacra and Simulation and The Matrix
In popular culture, the association of simulacra and simulation with the 1999 Wachowski brothers film The Matrix has become well-known. Although Jean Baudrillard denies any role in the making of the film, and argues that the movie misinterprets his theory (see La Nouvel Observateur [2]), the notion of a world that is "more real than real" - that replaces reality with its simulation of reality - is unmistakably Baudrillardian. In The Matrix, the fundamental question of "What is the Real?" underlies the characters' actions, as they move in and out of "reality" and its simulation by "the matrix."
One of the most visible reference to Baudrillard's theory of simulacra and simulation in The Matrix occurs at the beginning of the film, when the character Neo stashes some illegal software inside of a hollowed-out copy (a simulacra?) of Simulacra and Simulation. Another explicit reference occurs when the character Morpheus introduces Neo to "reality" by welcoming him to "the desert of the real," a phrase taken from the first page of Simulacra and Simulation:
"Today abstraction is no longer that of the map, the double, the mirror, or the concept. Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal. The territory no longer precedes the map, nor does it survive it. It is nevertheless the map that precedes the territory-the precession of simulacra- that engenders the territory... It is the real, not the map, whose vestiges persist here and there in the deserts that are no longer those of the Empire, but ours. The desert of the real itself." (1)
On page 9 of Simulacra and Simulation, Baudrillard writes: "Duplication suffices to render both (the real and the copy) artificial". In a key scene of The Matrix, Neo waits to meet with the Oracle. While waiting, he notices a boy sitting on the floor playing with a spoon. The boy stares at the spoon and it bends, then bends back. Neo's incredulousness recalls another chapter in Simulacra and Simulation, in which Baudrillard writes that "it is the real that has become our true utopia- but a utopia that is no longer in the realm of the possible, that can only be dreamt as one would dream of a lost object" (122-123). This scene, among many others, is what has contributed to the reception of The Matrix as a postmodern, "Baudrillardian" film.
Other Media Examples of Simulacra/Simulation
Films:
- Existenz (1999) [3]
- The Truman Show [4]
- Minority Report
- Bladerunner [5]
Literature:
- Neuromancer by William Gibson [6]
- Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (specifically, the mirror scene)
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde [7]
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick [8]
- The Adventures of Pinnochio by Carlo Collodi [9]
