Gwatter06, 10/4

This week in class we went a bit more in depth with Baudrillard and his theoretical perspectives. The first thing I was able to notice was the connection between Zizek’s notion of what’s real and Baudrillard notion of reality. The quote by Baudrillard set us off for our class discussion in asking, “Does reality actually outstrip fiction?” What I found most interesting is that there was a split in the class in who felt that fiction is actually more real than reality. I took the opposed faction in this argument. I believe that although reality has unrealistic properties and at times is an actual façade of the real, such as images and instruments that mirror or copy reality, fiction is still fiction and realism still exist within reality. What I mean by this is that, fiction is meant to be fake, but reality, although we have already determined can be fake in the sense that it is scripted or not sincere, still contains entities of realism. These entities are the people, objects and situations that entail what we define as reality. We also went over an interesting quote from Baudrillard in preparation for the test in where Baudrillard states, “Disneyland exists in order to hide the fact that it is the “real” country…Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real.” I believe this quote entails Baudrillard’s notion of the real vs. reality instilling his concept of simulacra he explains that Disney is the representation of something that is not actually there. It represents this utopian era of life that in “reality” does not exist. It is a façade for enterprise that society tends to be drawn too, sometimes in an attempt to escape reality through virtual reality. This relates to what Dorfman in how he explains that Disney’s aura of a utopian perfection will lead to children’s misperception of life. I believe this example personifies our trouble with the distinction of reality vs. fiction and so on.