Postmodernity and ‘Hyperreality’, Part 1: Theory
Americans now live in a post-modern era, which has been supported by many cornerstones, and, specifically, hyperreality servesas a significant function in a socio-cultural cornerstone. The forces that havedriven American social ethos during this era have been defined by many,Foucault focused on social institutions, like the prison system, as a situatedmechanism of Power, and Jean Baudrillard coined the term 'simulacra’ to describe the representational semiotics found in a post-modern era. To him, and many post-modern theorists, it functions as one of these forces that easy themind from the pervasiveness of simulacra—all representations loose the power to claim originality and claim itself as a ‘referential being’. For example, Blade Runner depicts a future of Los Angeles in which this mental disconnect with the ‘real’ hyperbolically defines the reality the characters live in; a reality where simulacra run rampant, and starts to take a life of its own. For the protagonist, and even the audience, it is hard to tell what who is real or not, which makes one wonderwhat constitutes ‘reality’—a very daunting task. 'Hyperreality', as Baudrillardposits, and Eco further supports, is a sustaining function that is Americansimulacra.
The traditional operational definition that Baudrillard proposes consists of three functional aspects andtwo purposes: simulating a ‘better reality’ and to conceal reality. Itconstructs its representation from a phantasmagoria (a cultural narrativeusually characterized by folk-like fiction that serves to support and foster acultural belief). Simultaneously, it has been designed to evoke certain emotionsthrough media overstimulation. This overstimulation induces the thirdfunction—an internalized desensitization to ‘reality’, which is composed of theunnatural territory of simulacra. To its intended audience, hyperrealityexplicitly has been designed to make one feel as if he or she is in a ‘betterreality’. Implicitly, as Baudrillard and Eco point out, hyperreality seems to concealaspects of reality from the people who engage in this hyperreality.
Known as the prime example, Disneyland, and the various forms of media used to construct thissimulation of reality, illustrates how hyperreality is a giant factory ofhyperreality. Before exploring hyperreality in Disneyland, hyperreality must beunderstood in terms of post-modernity. Illuminated in the Blade Runner page, post-modernity has continued to echoe and resonate with thesocioculturalhistorical era, or epoch, of modernity. With respect toDisneyland, an American enterprise, all of the features seem to be constructedaround a historical period in America, the McKinley era, as time after theCivil War, the quintessential American mentality became unified under themotivations to reconstruct America and engage in Manifest Destiny(Francavigilia, “Main Street U.S.A: A Comparison/Constrast of Streetscapes inDisneyland and Walt Disney World”, 1981). However, during this time, thisphantasmagoria silences other ‘American’ stories of that time. The factAfrican-Americans and other minorities groups still had restricted rights andwere not as privileged as ‘normal Americans’ (the right and privilege to votewithout restriction, and pursue happiness without institutional oppression andracial discrimination). Even though Disneyland uses this phantasmagoria toconstruct its main corridor, “Main Street”, the oppressive aspects of themodern world-view still poked out in this post-modern construction ofhyperreality. For example, the uses of media in the “Jungle Cruise” ride,human-like robotics and comical narration, simulated a cruise down anon-existent river in a simulated Africa. When on the ride, the boat travels bya robotic rhino poking it horn up a pole of robotic humans, with a White man onthe top and three African-looking robots. In reality, no many Africans at thistime, or even during the time of Disneyland’s opening, would risk their livesto help a White man explore the jungle for dangerous animals, especiallyAfrican-Americans—the type of narrative left out of Disneyland’s ‘better thanreality’ simulation of America. Thus, after leaving Disneyland, or any versionof hyperreality, the participant can use the phantasmagoria connection withnostalgic positive emotions that this child-like imagination taps into to copewith the realities of the country, especially the reality of Los Angeles.Jean Baudrillard explains Disneyland’s purpose as a function, “to conceal thefact that it is the ‘real’ country, for all ‘real’ America, which isDisneyland[—a simulation, or the simulacra, that evades parts of reality tomake the ‘American’ experience seem ‘better’”.
In “Travels in Hyperreality”, Umberto Eco explains, in the backdrop of the America ethos, Disneyland’shyperreality further. Disneyland “…makes it clear that within its magicenclosure it is fantasy that is absolutely reproduces… its reconstructions asmasterpieces of falsification”, and Eco continues to point out its purpose, “[tofalsify] our will to buy, which we take as real, and in this sense Disneylandis really the quintessence of consumer ideology”. This consumer ideology is a facet in American ideology, which unconsciously implies the expectation of social mobility through engagement in capitalist and consumer behavior, “the pursuit of happiness”. Earlier in the article, Eco described that hyperrealityhas been woven into other American staples, such as Las Vegas, the Gettymuseum. Both examples provide the evidence that—constructed in terms of “theNew World”—American consumerism thrives off of a desire for a ‘better reality’.Additionally, he implies that each example of hyperreality takes a form thatpanders to a certain market—Disneyland panders to families, while Las Vegaspanders to adults and young adults. It is apart of the American personalitythat defines that American Identity. Eco explains, “Disneyland[, as an exampleof hyperreality,] not only produces illusion, but—in confessing it—stimulatesthe desire for it: A real crocodile can be found in the zoo, and as a tule itis dozing or hiding, but Disneyland tells us that faked nature corresponds muchmore to our daydream demands”. Eco provides evidence that hyperrealitysatisfies the consumer ideology of Americans in various forms to continue todefine “‘real’ America” by what American standards might be.
However, both Baudrillard and Eco, do not explain how the converse is possible. Americanstandards do change, and, in terms of hyperreality, the standards ofphantasmagorias and the type of media that evokes overstimulationsimultaneously changes according to the consumer. Thus, hyperreality isinherently adaptable. For example, in “The Matrix Trilogy”, the Wachowskisiblings explore the notion of hyperreality during the time of the Internetboom of the 90’s and the early 21st century. Instead of taking oldphantasmagorias in the American past the film, as a depiction of hyperrealitytries to write one itself, based on happenings that surround the present. Forexample, after hyperreality is established as a normative aspect in the plot ofthe first film, “The Matrix: Reloaded” delves into the question about what howmight hyperreality be constructed in the future, but never answers thequestion. They still pose the same question in terms of: what should ‘real’America look like? They fail to ask the more pressing question before posingthe more pertinent question: what determines America? Historical evidence hasshown that consumerism, and consumer ideology, is coupled with hyperreality has always reflected the same American identity (White and masculine attributes), which has been discussed above. This inherent flaw stems back from America’s origin, as the ‘New World’, and as a democratic republic founded by White male immigrants,who were once seen as the ‘other’. Since then, this ‘real’ American identitythat has been expressed through its culture, such as traditional hyperreality found in Disneyland or current versions, has been shifting.
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