Simulation and Simulacrum as Ways of Being in the World

7/24/2019 Simulation and Simulacrum as Ways of Being in the World

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that the social requires and the simulation is the way out to be acce"ted to belong on the

other hand the confrontation of the self to the model of life that the social im"oses im"lies

the retreat into the marginal. simulation im"lies the mas7ing of what one is for fear of not

facing u" to the ex"ectations of the others Confrontation rejection means living off the

social Simulacrum is another way of esca"ing reality of belonging 3olden Caufield is

against simulation then he becomes a social dro"out . 8ladney is simulacrum he is

socially adjusted %oth are eager to find the meaning of life 3olden by contesting the

simulation 8ladney by being the simulacrum itself

0ccording to 8oodman (1+>?,1B) in a society where commodities rule, oung "eo"le are

not socialized because the "rocess goes against human nature 'hat is why growing u"

becomes hard Dur society is deficient in many as"ects , :ac7ing in man;s wor7 :ac7ing

in honest "ublic s"eech lac7ing in the o""ortunity to be useful it corru"ts ingenious

"atriotism it discourages religion -because of this the individual loses a coherent sense of

self/ ( %ell,AA) 3olden finds it very difficult to "ortray the image of the teenager that the

others want to see the young boy who has all what society lac7s he is against the cultural

status of his "arents the educational system that his teachers and his school re"resent

3olden is an antihero a boy who sees the simulated lives of those around him the ones

who "retend to have all that society needs and see7s for a future of his own by resisting

simulations 3e 7nows that - the young are should be those who act who ma7e things

ha""en who ta7e the ris7s/( *oszac7'1+?,1) yet he is not ready to loo7 u" to to what

the adults ex"ect from him for these adults and young that are "art of his life live in

constant simulation Simulations are ideas of life that "eo"le imitate for the sa7e of

conforming to re"resentations that are socially validated models that affiliate "eo"le to

ways of being in the world that stand for visions of the what is required from them theselives of &@am@as@if@ save them from alienation for the other sees in these simulations what

society as a whole has agreed on and validated as the "erfect model of a young boy the

"erfect model of an adult


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"arents. the second inaugurates an age of simulacra and simulation in which there is no

longer any 8od to recognize his own nor any last judgment to se"arate truth from false the

real from its artificial resurrection since everything is already dead and risen in

advance/(A??0fter 8od $ar7 C 'aylorAAA) Simulacra here com"letely blur the

borders between reality and simulacrum 6ac7 8ladney is a simulacrum and his de"artment

at university is a simulacrum

Simulations and Simulacra

-Simulators try to ma7e the real all the real coincide with their simulation models =o

more mirror of being and a""earances of the real and its conce"t. no more imaginary

coextensivity, rather genetic miniaturization is the dimension of simulation 'he real is

"roduced from miniaturized units from matrices memory ban7s and command

models/(1?) -'o simulate is to feign to have what one hasnGt %ut the matter is more

com"licated since to simulate is not sim"ly to feign, Someone who feigns an illness can

sim"ly go to bed and "retend he is ill Someone who simulates an illness "roduces in

himself some of the sym"tomsH (:ittre, 11)


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because they are crazy about themselves they thin7 you;re crazy about them too and that

you;re just dying to them a favour/ - 3ow ;bout writing a com"osition for me for

EnglishK/ -&t was very ironical it really was -&;m the one who;s flun7ing out the

goddam "lace and you;re as7ing me to write a goddam com"osition/ & said Stradlater

embodies the simulation of the good student and his loo7s are those of the good guy, - 3e

was mostly the 7ind of a handsome guy that if your "arents saw his "icture in your ear

%oo7 they;d right away say, -


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real neo@real and hy"erreal whose universal double is a strategy of

deterrence/(%audrillard,AB)

'he museum is the "lace of the simulation a re"resentation of the absence but it is stable

for it holds the re"resentation of the unchanginess of the idea of the "ast that is secure for it

does not exist anymore it resurrects the figurative and cannot be feigned because it is astrategy of deterrence for 3olden this "lace is nostalgic no equivalence with the real is

"ossible it cancels out the difference whereas simulation is a third@order simulacrum

beyond true and false beyond equivalences beyond the rational distinctions u"on which

function the entire social stratum, -Certain things they should stay the way they are ou

ought to be able to stic7 them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone &

7now that;s im"ossible but it;s too bad anyway/(1AA)

3olden needs a visible "ast a visible myth of origin -) 3ere it will be im"ortant to include, they do not

conform they resist they do not simulate they cannot co"e with the idea of seemingly

being and they reject the models even if this rejection would mean alienation from

whatever mainstream means

3oldenGs fixation on the duc7s on the real against the dissimulation the simulation and the

simulacra of his surrounding world is a verifiable "roof of the real of things that stay the

same for frozen la7es get re"eated and the duc7s 7ee" coming bac7 this cycle constitutes

an illusion of life 3olden clings to in s"ite of his constant search for 7nowing what ha""ens

to the duc7s in the "rocess 3e 7nows that the cycle will re"eat itself 'here is no


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simulation in nature, -ou 7now those duc7s in the lagoon right near Central 2ar7 SouthK

'hat little la7eK %y any chance do you ha""en to 7now where they go the duc7s when it

gets all frozen overK(1) So right in the middle of his own frozen la7e and witnessing his

invisibility in a system he does not fit he tries to find and answer in things that get re"eated

his certainty about the renewal of nature gives some comfort to his mind if duc7s come

bac7 and then there is a "ossibility for him 3is ho"e relates to the real never to the

simulations

Simulacra in


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by history and creates a "hase of an image that bears no relation to truth 0ccording to

%audrillard there are four "hases in an image, 1@ it is the reflection of a basic reality A@ &t

mas7s and "erverts a basic reality F@&t mas7s the absence of a basic reality 5@&t bears no

relation to any reality whatever, &t is s its own "ure simulacrum 6ac7 8ladney is his own

simulacrum, a teacher "retending to be a 3itler that is not 3itler, -Dur society is

com"osed of ideas of things ) the source of a 5), 0 culture li7e ours long accustomed to s"litting and dividing all things as a

means of control &t is sometimes a bit of a shoc7 to be reminded that in o"erational and

"ractical fact the medium is the message(1B)/ 3e ma7es a "oint of the fact that - 'he

effects of technology do not occur at the level of o"inions or conce"ts but alter sense ratios

or "atterns of "erce"tion steadily and without any resistance/(A) &n


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born right there in our living room li7e something we 7now in a dreamli7e and

"reconscious way/(B+)

9e :illo ex"lores the ontological worlds the modes of existence of the selves %audrillard;s

idea of why screened imaging constitutes a safe zone of existence a secure way of being in

the world is a "ossible answer, Screened imaging defers reality for it embodies the facts, 1@'hat some things ha""en to the other, -


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Simulation and Simulacrum as Ways of Being in the World

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