Simulacra and Simulation
Travels in Hyperreality
, The Loss of the Real
“Which would you rather see –a Disney
crocodile robot or a real crocodile? The
Disney version has a certain vividness. It
rolls its eyes, it moves from side to side, it
disappears beneath the surface and rises
again. It is designed to thrill us, to
command our attention at all times. None
of these qualities is necessarily visible in a
real crocodile in a zoo, which seems to
spend most of its time sleeping.” – Sherry
Turkle: Life on the Screen
,The Loss of the Real
The messiness of the real.
Reality sometimes opposes our desires
objectives. It cannot be controlled.
The seductiveness of simulation.
o A simulation can be controlled.
o This control can be taken to its extreme: the spect
The banalization of the world as spectacle.
o Reality becomes partial through the image.
o The world as representation and not as activity.
o From being into having and from having into appe
, Society of Spectacle
The time of image-consumption
o Television and the consumption of moments.
Mass media created the spectacular gaze.
o The objects, events and people which constitute
the world are made to perform for those
watching or gazing.
The spectacle; paralysis of history and
memory.
o The spectacle aims at nothing other than itself.
Travels in Hyperreality
, The Loss of the Real
“Which would you rather see –a Disney
crocodile robot or a real crocodile? The
Disney version has a certain vividness. It
rolls its eyes, it moves from side to side, it
disappears beneath the surface and rises
again. It is designed to thrill us, to
command our attention at all times. None
of these qualities is necessarily visible in a
real crocodile in a zoo, which seems to
spend most of its time sleeping.” – Sherry
Turkle: Life on the Screen
,The Loss of the Real
The messiness of the real.
Reality sometimes opposes our desires
objectives. It cannot be controlled.
The seductiveness of simulation.
o A simulation can be controlled.
o This control can be taken to its extreme: the spect
The banalization of the world as spectacle.
o Reality becomes partial through the image.
o The world as representation and not as activity.
o From being into having and from having into appe
, Society of Spectacle
The time of image-consumption
o Television and the consumption of moments.
Mass media created the spectacular gaze.
o The objects, events and people which constitute
the world are made to perform for those
watching or gazing.
The spectacle; paralysis of history and
memory.
o The spectacle aims at nothing other than itself.