Week 3 The World is Merely an Illusion

The World is Merely an Illusion

The world is merely an illusion. That was one tagline that most of gamer will remember, most of the villain in the game seeing the world as merely illusion. Illusion that we created and we accept what lies beyond it. It was just a tagline that I assume, not really affecting me. However, upon reading and learning semiotics, we have come to a deep meaning why most villain perceiving the world as an illusion. Thus, it all linked each other, human is the sources of why our world is merely just a copy of original. All answered in the in the Jean Bauldrillard works, Excerpt from “Simulacra and Simulations- I. The Precession of Simulacra”.

We are used to think that our world is what we see right now, made of several biotic, ecosystem, and structure. We are believing that they are exist before any else. Nature over structure, structure over system. However, what if, today, the natural order has been reversed into else? Structure over nature. Signify over Signified.

Leaked Pokemon from One of the Famous Japanese Magazine

One simple example of signify over signified is we learn college stuff before we enter the college. We are given information regarding the college. Thus, we already experience the life of college before we even start it. Another example is today information of game is too much revealing. We got lots of information leaked (by purpose) although the game is not released yet. One real example is the upcoming Pokemon Game. Pokemon Sun and Moon will be released on 11 November 2016. However, several months before the released, the developer already spread some leaks on what will be in the game, what new system, etc. Thus, we are slightly experiencing what will the game looks like.

Baudrillard uses the term of Simulacrum because it is denoting the representation of the real things, or fake version of the things. Simulacra appear to refers the signified things, but in his analysis, the simulacra are pretending a representation. One great example taken from Wikipedia is the consumer society is creating a demand of new products before there is a need for the product. The demand of the product comes before the actual product. The sign comes before the actual thing. They are creating a system before the nature. Demanding something that is not exist yet.

People are manipulating and being manipulated by the parade of images they created. Thinking that sign is the reality. This phenomenon described as “Precision of Simulacra” by Baudrillard. Given too much information before the real things and we slightly created illusion, believing the images and the sign as the truth.

The simulacra have created a barricade of images that slightly hides the real things. It is difficult to see the world now, because everything is in news, papers, and internets. We are given too much sign and thus we believed into them. Getting a blueprint of the world before we experience it. In short, simulacra is merely a layout of these world. In order to understand the world, we have to not always rely on the media, keep our self awake.

Reference

Baudrillard, J. (n.d.). Excerpt from “Simulacra and Simulations – I. The Precession of Simulacra” (1983) Translated by Sheila Faria Glaser. The Precession of Simulacra. Retrieved September 16 2016.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation

Signifier and Signified. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2016, from http://changingminds.org/explanations/critical_theory/concepts/signifier_signified.htm