jl0630 - 2/17/09

We talked in class the other day about the precession of simulacra. In retrospect, I realize how odd it is that we can have a nostalgia for something that doesn’t exist or we don’t actually know. We used Johnny Rockets as an example about how their burgers are just like the ones from the 50’s. This is odd for a couple of reasons: one, they are not actually burgers from the 50’s, and two, how would I know what burgers from the 50’s are actually like – I wasn’t even alive in that era! So stepping back and reflecting on this situation, is it Johnny Rocket’s that is feeding us this image of what a burger from the 50’s is like, or is it a greater media power that is giving us these ideas? I would have to argue both. Johnny Rockets directly gives us these images of the 50’s to play off of, whether it be a caption underneath a burger on the menu, “Johnny Rockets, the original burger,” or its 50’s style diner setting. Johnny Rockets is only able to do this successfully, however, because of the greater media force which displays the 50’s lifestyle of drive-in movies, a burger basket and fries at a diner, women with long poufy skirts, and men with perfectly groomed heads of hair. We’ve seen these images in commercials and TV shows like Happy Days that we can reference this to. It is the images in the media that support and give credibility to the display of Johnny Rockets and our views of the things that we do not know. We trust that they are right because we have nothing else that tells us otherwise. In other words, these simulacras/mere representations that we mindlessly encounter and regard as truth are actually just superficial. The most chilling part of this concept to me is how an advertisement, “Johnny Rockets, the original burger. Coming soon” can be so obviously paradoxical, yet this is the first time I have ever thought to question the advertisement.