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• 1 2017-11-28T07:32:54-08:00 A Recognizable Simulacrum 9 plain 2017-12-08T11:44:42-08:00

  While the use of bilingual code and language creates a recognizable world, it is still a simulacrum.  Most everything around us can be reasoned to be simulacra now, but this piece feels more realistic than our billboard ads and even the magical Disney World.  While an example of simulacrum would be a TV show consisting of female characters that exemplify the “perfect” woman, this text breaks that because it is attempting to take apart all of the pieces of what makes a woman and show the impact that has on the individual by evoking a reaction from the reader.  “Simulation threatens the difference between the ‘true’ and the ‘false,’ the ‘real’ and the ‘imaginary’” (Baudrillard).  While the voices you hear and interviews are real, the body you are filling is not truly real or your own, but as you go through each scene, it is easy to become picky of what you decide to place into your character, so inadvertently it begins to become a representation of yourself.  “It is truth that hides the fact that there is none…The simulacrum is true.” (Baudrillard).  So while this could convey there is no longer truth anywhere, it relates to Pieces of Herself by revealing that there is no true definition of what a woman should be, there is no formula or societal dictation that is correct, and in ripping apart these ideas this simulation offers its own truth to those reading along.  It also offers something much more real and true than what society is trying to feed us, in showing us one dimensional characters, of the pure woman and the impure woman, that there is no overlapping between them, only a paradoxical binary attempting to separate them.
      When entering the scene of Main Street in Pieces of Herself, I most distinctly remember the line, “I was running away from something that I could not see” (Davis).  Upon experiencing this it causes the reader to stop and look at one’s self and realize many of us are fleeing from qualities and ideas that are continually being thrust upon us, such as how we look and act.  That is the one of the truths of the piece that the author wants you to confront and contend with.  “Behind the baroqueness of images hides the eminence grise of politics” (Baudrillard).  This relates to how Davis is using artwork and this platform to create something inspirational and moving.  This is displayed in the picture following, where once you go outside you can see a church but you can see an embryo that you can also place inside of your character.  Davis’ use of a baby in reference to church  touches on abortion as a much larger issue that women can face during their life.

  There is a hidden depth in residing among the codes of audio files, and while your character is not real the truth behind the message of this piece is very real.  An interesting facet of this is that “the eye of TV is no longer the source of an absolute gaze” (Baudrillard).  There is so many more avenues to convey information now.  Television is only one of those ways, in a room of Pieces of Herself your character can turn on the tv to hear Oprah, and while its noise drowns out other audio occurring in the room, you can escape it by leaving or waiting for it to turn off. Interestingly enough, you cannot even put the television inside of your character, so that shows that it is not the most important method of obtaining information when filling your character and there is more that the scene wants you to pay attention to.