Simulacra+-+PROS

=In Defense of Simulacra =

//“The simulacrum is never what hides the truth - it is truth that hides the fact that there is none. // //The simulacrum is true.” -Ecclesiastes //

The Latin term "simulacrum" has its beginnings in Plato's Greek dialogues, where it appears as the term we would translate as "phantasm" or "semblance." Plato sought to distinguish essence from appearance, intelligible from sensible, and idea from image.

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This clip is taken from the documentary 'Return to the Source - Philosophy and the Matrix' Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Definition: “1.) A material image, made as a representation of some deity, person, or thing. 2.) a.) Something having merely the form or appearance of a certain thing, without possessing its substance or proper qualities. b). A mere image, a specious imitation or likeness, of something.”

This concept has evolved over time from the pre-modern period to the industrial revolution of the 19th century to now in the postmodern age. Simulacra has evolved from a clear counterfeit of the real, to a mass produced copy of the real. Now, in the post modern age, representation precedes and determines the real. There is not any distinction between reality and its representation, there is only simulacra (Baudrillard, 1994).

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"SIMULACRA" By Textile Designer - Roni Reuveny  Starring: Chris Mitskevich, Carmel Ekman & Tal Reuveny   Dir.: Amit Einy & Roni Reuveny According to Baudrillard (1994) there are four phases of simulacra:
 * 1) It is the reflection of a basic reality
 * 2) It masks and perverts a basic reality
 * 3) It masks the absence of a basic reality
 * 4) It bears no relation to any reality whatever; it is its own pure simulacrum

"It is no longer a question of imitation, nor even of parody. It is rather a question of substituting signs of the real for the real itself.... Illusion is no longer possible because the real is no longer possible" (Baudrillard 1994, p. 19).

=Productiveness = Baudrillard’s 1994 book Simulacra and Simulation has been cited in other scholarly journals 6,323 times, according to Google Scholar. The theory has been very productive and has been built upon and utilized as a lens for research in a wide variety of fields, including those that are not necessarily qualitative in nature. Below you will find a sampling of work that has been done is such fields as management and accounting:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Field of Management** - Grandy and Mills (2004) take a reflexive discourse approach and argue that modeling strategies used by management professionals, such as SWOT analyses, are becoming simulacra for the larger, complex issues at hand.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Field of Accounting** - Macintosh, Shearer, Thornton and Welker (2000) use the concept of simulacra and hyperreality to describe the state of the ontological status of the accounting field, describing models used within the field as constantly referring to themselves, without there ever truly being an original. Boiral (2013) discusses sustainability reports put out by companies in terms of simulacra, arguing that the counter accounting approach in assessing the quality of sustainability reports and question the reliability of the GRI's A or A+ application levels. Boiral contributes to debates concerning the transparency of sustainability reports, taking Baudrillard's critical perspective under consideration. The author also argues that images are an underexplored area in the emergence of several types of simulacra studies.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Organizational Studies and Communication** - Alvesson and Deetz (2006) outline how Baudrillard’s theory is applicable to organizational studies in the SAGE Handbook of Organizational Studies. Gioia, Hamilton, and Patvardhan (2014) then use the theory to make a case that “image is everything” and tie in theory from psychology, branding, and political science as well to further advance their point.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Field of Education** - Gee (2000) discusses uses the concept of identity as an analytic lens for conducting research in the field of education, relating various identity performances (‘hipster’, ‘gang member’, ‘yuppie’, ‘academic’, etc.) to simulacrum repeating themselves.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Critical/Cultural Studies** - Striphas (2009) argues that “powerful multimedia companies like Scholastic, Time Warner, and others can strategically deploy simulacra to shore up their intellectual property rights” (p. 1). Nishime (2005) also utilized the theory of simulacrum as it relates to cyborg film narratives including melancholy and nostalgia, particularly as it relates to historical simulacrum of film noir in the movie Blade Runner.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Relevance =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Country Music:
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The concept of simulacra is extremely relevant in popular culture today and especially in music. Country music is a perfect example of simulacra, specifically country music by male artists in the last 5-10 years. The songs employ similar chord arrangements, melodies, harmonies, structures and lyrics! All these songs claim to be originals but they are actually just copies of copies with no real origin.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is illustrated in the Spotify annotated playlist below. In this illustration, the there are three different lyrics from each of the six songs and the overarching themes present in all the songs are listed at the bottom. These songs were all in the top 20 on the Country Billboard charts and four of the six songs were number 1 hits.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|Here's] a link to a mashup of all six songs. It pretty much sounds like one song. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">New York City:
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|Here] you will find an excellent article on NYC, Taylor Swift and Simulacra.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Continuing with the theme of simulacra in popular culture, when you hear “New York City” what do you think of? Do you feel like you already know what New York City is all about even though you have never been there? That is because not only have certain ideas about NYC been copied and counterfeited but they have also been mass produced and distributed to the public as reality.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Authenticity, and the lack thereof, is a concern of the modern world. Basically, New York is no longer a city of aspiration, its a city that symbolizes aspiration. All these New York songs on this Spotify annotated playlist serve to help construct this symbolic and abstract perception of New York City, which is hyperreal. The reality of New York city is actually an elaborate construct, and the public, mass-produced perception of NYC is a pale imitation of reality. These songs and other aspects of popular culture (TV, movies, hotels) continue to promote this mass produced imitation of the reality that is New York City.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“These songs about NYC are for the rest of the world, where an imagined life in The City is all bright lights and “helluva town!” gossamer sheen, scrubbed clean of its rats, roaches, and endless parade of human suffering.”- Corey Beasley, popmatters.com

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A specific way that the simulacra of NYC is mass-produced and distributed is through pop songs as described in this Spotify annotated playlist below: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Facebook and Hyperreality: The Simulacrum of Self
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When questioned as to who he is, Baudrillard responded, “I am the simulacrum of myself.” Therefore, if people are simulacra of themselves then social media profiles are a simulation of that simulacra, a double simulacra or doubly hyperreal.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Therefore, when using social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc., users create profiles which are supposed to encompass and depict their personal identity. However, one’s Facebook or Twitter profile is not authentic or accurate because, a social media profile is simply an interpretation of who one thinks they are and furthermore, this interpretation is presented within the confines of Facebook and its parameters of what make up an individual. Therefore, not only are human beings simulacra in themselves but in the new social media world, there are simulations of simulacra (i.e. double simulacra) all over the internet.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In a sense Facebook is a bad copy of hyperreality, which itself is a copy of copy or a simulacrum.

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=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Contingency = <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Baudrillard’s theory of simulation and simulacra is contingent upon post-modernity and the other theories of the time. Without the shift into the viewpoint of post-modernity and the skepticism and questioning of master narratives that is associated with it, the theory of simulacra wouldn’t be applicable. As demonstrated in our relevance section, popular culture in the 21st century uses simulacra, and it goes unnoticed by many.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Simulacra is extremely useful in our post-modern, 21st century world because many aspects of our world are not actually authentic or original but are copies of other copies. In popular music, television, films and attractions, simulacra is prevalent and thus, it is important that the theory continues to be studied and taught. Also, in a world focused on social media, simulacra is important to understand because our depictions of ourselves online is simply a simulacra, an imitation of the real thing. While the theory is broad, it needs to be because it applies to almost every aspect of culture and society.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">References =

Alvesson, M., & Deetz, S. (2006). 1.7 critical theory and postmodernism approaches to organizational studies. The Sage handbook of organization studies, 255.

Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and simulation. University of Michigan press.

Benjamin, W. (2008). The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. Penguin UK.

Franich, D. (2015, January 15). Entertainment Geekly: ‘Simulacra and Simulation,’ Taylor Swift and New York. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.ew.com/article/2014/10/31/taylor-swift-new-york-simulacra-simulation

Gee, J. P. (2000). Identity as an analytic lens for research in education. Review of research in education, 99-125.

Gioia, D. A., Hamilton, A. L., & Patvardhan, S. D. (2014). Image is everything: Reflections on the dominance of image in modern organizational life. Research in Organizational Behavior, 34, 129-154.

Grandy, G., & Mills, A. J. (2004). Strategy as simulacra? A radical reflexive look at the discipline and practice of strategy*. Journal of management studies,41(7), 1153-1170.

http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/01/this-video-proves-every-hit-country-song-sounds-the-same/

Macintosh, N. B., Shearer, T., Thornton, D. B., & Welker, M. (2000). Accounting as simulacrum and hyperreality: perspectives on income and capital.Accounting, Organizations and Society, 25(1), 13-50.

Nishime, L. (2005). The mulatto cyborg: Imagining a multiracial future. Cinema Journal, 44(2), 34-49.

Olivier Boiral, (2013) "Sustainability reports as simulacra? A counter-account of A and A+ GRI reports",Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 26 Iss: 7, pp.1036 - 1071

Striphas, T. (2009). Harry Potter and the simulacrum: Contested copies in an age of intellectual property. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 26(4), 295-311.