A House of Mirrors

The idea of simulacra and the diversion of a reality is something that Jean Baudrillard discusses in his piece The Procession of Simulacra. Baudrillard uses an epigraph in this piece that states, “The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth – it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true” (Baudrillard 1556). This idea is that the legion of copies or simulations does not add depth to the truth of the idea, it becomes the idea. This is a popular belief in post-modern analysis and creation that, in idea, copies something that has already happened but changes the meaning, therefore changing the truth. Television shows such as South Park and Family Guy can be seen as post-modern by relying on pop-culture reference to create comedy.

When the aforementioned shows reference historical or contemporary creations, they broadcast a simulacrum, which I what Baudrillard means when he says that “[t]he real is produced from miniaturised units, from matrices, memory banks and command models” (1557). This real that he mentions is not the original meaning. That original point, or in the case of my analysis, the figure standing that enters a carnivalesque house of mirrors. Each mirror is a one way window with a video camera on the other side. The mirrors consist of a regular mirror and then assorted ones that distort the image. Some reflections become short and stout, others become giants, or like the reflection in a rippled body of water. The camera acts as a public eye, where meaning is created or discussed depending upon what image is seen.

Each of these distorted reflections that a person sees becomes, in essence, a reality despite the original source material. Becky Sharp in William Makepeace Thackery's novel Vanity Fair does a sufficient job acting as a house or mirrors. In the novel, she adjusts her personality by drawing in the “proper” reflections of her surroundings and broadcasting the appropriate image. This act of reflection becomes the truth of Becky Sharp, at least to the reader, while the characters in the book assume the reflection they are shown as the truth.

Back to the television shows, Family Guy, South Park, The Simpsons, and countless other contemporary forms of entertainment reflect/distort an image or idea and create something new. To people unaware of the original state, they will create meaning from what they see as truth. Others that can catch the references will create a new truth from the simulacra depending on what setting the reflections take place in.

The early modernist writers, like Ezra Pound, made an effort to re-craft language and tradition into a new contemporary meaning. To paraphrase Pound, it is only through the knowledge and understanding of the past that a contemporary truth can be revealed. Post modern analysis can challenge that view point to say that truth lies not only within the original, but with the simulation of that original. Or at least the truth evolves with the procession of simulacra.

Baudrillard, Jean. "The Precession of Simulacra." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton and, 2010. 1556-566. Print.

Zizek get's White-boarded

Public "Illusions" of Private "Realities"

Jürgen Habermas, in The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article, seems to describe the evolution of ideology. Specifically the ideas of the public v. the private. “In the second half of the eighteenth century literary journalism created serious competition for the earlier news sheets which were mere compilations of notices” (Habermas 1574). The piece was written in 1964 and is very relevant today in looking at modern news.

If I were to turn on the television today I would be bombarded with thousands of channels, all vying for an opportunity to inform about or distract from the world today. As a viewer, there is a sense of empowerment, since the remote control is in my hands. Many analysis of popular culture have viewed the potential problem of outlets in both negative and positive ways. The main idea of the news channels is to provide a viewer with complementary views of their own. What the news channels seem to think is that people abide by certain guidelines depending on religious, political, or social ideologies. They, in turn, make these privatized ideas a public mass.

Looking even closer, each of the news channels employ analysts. These people take their own viewpoints and publicize them. A statement by Habermas, “often enough today the process of making public simply serves the arcane policies of special interests” (1576). The special interests could be seen as each individual analysts desire, whether that be to educate or motivate towards their own privatized ideas. This idea of making public for service could be seen in practice when a company goes public, or to some conspirators, the act of voting since they're all rigged anyway.

The act of going public is merely an illusion of an individual's private ideologies, that once bought in to, becomes a reality. People vote for a presidential candidate not by platform, but by party allegiance just like brand loyalty. Publication simply seems to give the closest, most similar outlet of private view.