Eddie, 9/25

If simulacra is yearning for something lost which never was, then our whole world is basically built on simulacra.

The idea of consumerism is built on the idea that we can all be persuaded or educated into wanting something enough to pay for it. For years, Sony has been a master of sowing the seed of simulacra into our minds. Pick up any Sony catalogue and you can be sure to find at least one shot of their product deployed into a clean, well-lit and professionally coordinated room which simulates that of a living environment. They are simple, easy to study and beautifully minimal to a point of being sterile, but more importantly, they makes us ferociously want that portrait of the “stylish modern life” to be our own. We want it and Sony shows us the yellow brick road. The room is mostly empty to begin with, so to the average person, the Sony product in question is apparently the holy grail which binds the bland and ordinary and transforms them into envy-inducing paradise. So we are told that there exists a home of perfectly coordinated shapes and color with just the right kinds of furniture and just the right products to deliver us into bliss. We are told that regardless of our background or social status or family structure, we are all forgiven if we repent our sin of ignorance and buy our path into modern heaven. Even more important is that we are told that what we see in the catalogue is real beyond reality- that while we do not see it in any part of our lives, it is only because we have not bought enough stuff to fix our under-modernized reality. Never mind any consideration as to how the product meets our needs, or whether or not we even have those needs. We want it.

So what we have here is actually the makings of a religion. It may not be the cult of the new, but it sure is the cult of the modern, with companies asking us to be their loyal worshippers. Those who submit the most and deepest are granted the pride to hold their chests high before all the primitive brutes left behind in the arms race of the modern. Even the music industry baits us with simulacra. Apparently, music is no longer about the quality of the composition, the display of musical excellence or lyrical insight, but rather about brand loyalty and pride. We get faction wars like that of Kanye West versus 50 Cent, where they called upon their fans to take up their arms and win “those on the other side.” We get endless fights amongst teens, mocking how they picked the wrong side to follow and are now with the inferior pack. Here, being a loyal subject is to be a dedicated consumer. You are not a true fan if you selectively buy. The glory of the top dog (or top bitch, to be sexually fair) only belongs to those who follow him (or her) without question and without sinful idolatry for other false talents. And we all know that religious bonds are beyond strong, but something has gone wrong along the way.

I mention music because it presents us with an instance of simulacra shooting the music industry in the foot. The above mode of "baiting --> buying --> boasting" works because we all want to be the committed worshipper, and are willing to bend and submit our riches to attain that glory. Yet we, as consumers, have mutated. We have gained more power than ever before at the individual level which began from the cassette tape and then grew into the modern digitalized music. Somewhere along the road, the step of “--> buying” forked into “--> getting.” We have been so revved up - so focused on the goal and prize - that the step in the middle becomes relevant only in that it should be the most efficient.

Simulacra presents merely a hypothetical model of idealism. Yet models are simply a shell, without internal structure or machinery. So the bizarre outcome of simulacra-driven consumerism is that consumers care only to arrive at the end and receive their promised bliss. It does not matter if it takes a bit of stealing and plundering to get there.