Transcript Simulation simulacra.ppt

The Environment in Cultural Studies
 'Simulation: a copy without a source, an imitation that
has lost its original.
 theory about how our images, our communications
and our media have usurped the role of reality
 our mediated world
 simulation is a philosophy of reality and of our
changing relations with it.' (Sean Cubitt 2000)
 Present historical moment characterized as an era of
simulations
 Models (as when a situation comedy simulate real family
life)
 Idea of the distinction between an original and a copy
becomes disrupted
 Duplications represent the real
 “It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, nor
even parody. It is a question of substituting the signs of the
real for the real” (Baudrillard 1994)
 ‘themed environments’ – simulate history and locales
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with art, architecture, and theater
To recreate an historical and cultural ambience
To present it as a commodity
Sometimes “branded” – fused with well-known, highly
advertised product/product lines
E.g., ESPN Zone restaurants
Decontenxtualized history and art to create sites where
culture and commerce mix to expand their markets
 a work is called pastiche if it is cobbled together in
imitation of several original works
 "Pastiche is, like parody, the imitation of a peculiar or
unique, idiosyncratic style, the wearing of a linguistic
mask, speech in a dead language. But it is a neutral
practice of such mimicry, without any of parody's
ulterior motives, amputated of the satiric impulse,
devoid of laughter“ (Jameson 1991)
 "the cannibalization of all the styles of the past, the
play of random stylistic allusion…” (Ibid.)