Post-Class Blog 10/1

The connection Baudrillard made between the simulation of a ransom and the effects that simulacrum could have on the public trust of law and order. This is specifically correlated to the pilot episode of Black Mirror, I find that the theories we cover in this course really correlate to a lot of the messages that Black Mirror showcases in their episodes. 

This show in specific though is about the British parliament, the princess was taken and there was a ransom asked of the prime minister to publically stream himself doing indecent things to a pig for her to be released. There was the struggle shown of the prime minister basically being told he absolutely has to do this against his will, and the mass media and public relations professionals being the ones applying this pressure. Little did everyone know this was just a way for the person who ransomed the prime minister to see how fast the public officials would crumble under ransom via simulacrum. The live stream was scheduled, everyone was advised not to watch, yet, everyone did and was off the streets, and nation-wide commerce paused for that moment. And right as the screening aired the princess was released unscathed into the road, and the ransomer committed suicide. 

A dark episode that made me sick to my stomach watching but was a grotesque way of telling this same message that Baudrillard was communicating in this portion of his work. That we can highlight the malleability of reality, or the lack thereof, by a simulacrum. His overall stance is that simulation is a new reality, and this media example shows that via scandal which is also in line with Baudrillard’s arguments. 

I wrote the above section on my personal example of Baudrillard prior to class, but after our class discussion using Disney as a media text to correlate to the readings I saw in a greater way how the false “reality” that Disney creates of “real” places in their parks is changing the reality that we experience if we go to these places. Specifically, I grew up going to Epcot and always found the Japan and Mexico pavilions at the park some of my favorites. I’m part Mexican so that explained the first cultural tie, but I was just deeply fascinated by the Japan pavilion at the park. This last year in September of 2018, I went to Japan briefly and remember saying to my friend I traveled with how “this feels like a theme park” that my very point of reference for the experience I was having in Japan was that of my experience in Epcot. Therefore, highlighting the effect of this simulacrum on my actual experience in real Japan, as feeling “unreal.”