10/3

“ Does reality actually outstrip fiction? (228) In class we discussed how Baudrillard says that this so-called realism is something that all theroirst as a being highly probomatic. Is reality itself more fictional than fiction?
A lot of reality is scripted, framed and plots are formed. Such as in reality shows and in the news. On the opposite side, you have to think of what is your notion of reality. It may depend on what you are watching. In fiction you still have more control. We discussed how here is a tension between reality and the artificial, which leads to paranoia. Or it leads to a notion of conspiracy that all the things are interconnected. Our language ads to paranoia as to decide what is real and what is fictional. The same language we use to talk about the media is the same language we use to talk about paranoia. For example the show Lost… it makes us think, “can I trust what I see”
“To dissimulate is to pretend not to have what one has. To simulate is to feign to have what one doesn’t have. One implies a presence, the other an absence.” (454) Baudrillard uses the root word, to simulate. An example of this would be verisimilitude, or the video games in SIMS. To simulate is to fake something that you do not have. Dissimulate is to pretend to not have something that you really do. Allusion is about having it or not having it.
Even though the camera is making us think it is showing reality, it is not. Baudrillard would argue that all media is about putting something there that you do not have or not showing something that you do have.
Learning about what is real and what is fictional and the concepts of dissimulate to silmuate were two very interesting concepts Rog discussed with us on Thursday. Baudrillard is a very interesting theorist and I am excited to go back to my notes and see which theorist I can connect him to.