2.1.1 Electric Animals
Electric animals,the simulacra of animal bodies,belong to the category of industrialsimulacra,which corresponds to the“production”stage in the three orders of simulacra,where a non-differentiated series of products without prototypes are produced.InSymbolic Exchange and Death,Baudrillard points out the characteristics of this order ofsimulacra.
The second-order simulacrum simplifies the problem by the absorption ofappearances,or by the liquidation of the real,whichever you prefer.In anycase it erects a reality without images,without echo,without mirrors,withoutappearances:such indeed is labour,such is the machine,such is the entireindustrial system of production in that it is radically opposed to the principleof theatrical illusion(Baudrillard 54).
In other words,different from the order of counterfeit,the production in this stage is freefrom the shackles of nature,“the production that Baudrillard talks about here is notgeneral material production,but a metaphysical design,that is,manufacturing withoutoriginal origin”(Zhang Yibing 34).What’s more,assembly line production andmechanized reproduction here become possible.
2.2 The Simulacra of Spaces
In the simulacra world described in the novel,technology first leads to thecompression of human living space,and then creates hyperreal spiritual spaces forhumans with the help of technological products,completing the splicing of humans andtechnological objects.This also means that technology and human beings haveestablished a symbiotic relationship.However,under the pursuit of perfect technology byhuman beings,technological products with the crystallization of human wisdom aregradually encroaching on the subjectivity of human beings.
2.2.1 The Compression of Living Space
In the doomsday scenario described by Dick,humankind wages war with the help of nuclear technology.However,the nuclear war has led to the shrinking of the natural andartificial spaces that constitute the main field of human life.At the same time,thedeterioration of the ecological environment,the extinction of urban clusters,and thecontinuous expansion of Kipple are eating up the space for human existence at anunprecedented rate.
The Earth’s environment has been irreversibly damaged.In addition to thesuccessive extinctions of species,many people have died as a result.The survivors wereeither coaxed by the government to emigrate to Mars or stayed on Earth by choice inorder to see“one another,take heart at their mutual presence”(Dick 12).Because thereproductive capacity of a large number of survivors has been dramatically weakenedand the population has also been significantly reduced,the government has issued lawsand regulations that make abortion illegal and punishable by life imprisonment.
CHAPTER THREE MEDIAAND SIMULACRA................33
3.1 The Erasure of the Real by the Media.........................33
3.2 The Generation of the Hyperreal by the Media......................38
CHAPTER FOUR SIGNS AND SIMULACRA..........................44
4.1 The Sign in the Hyperreal Consumer Society...........................44
4.2 The Sign in the Hyperreal Half-Life World..............................48
CONCLUSION.................................53
CHAPTER FOUR SIGNS AND SIMULACRA
4.1 The Sign in the Hyperreal Consumer Society
In Symbolic Exchange and Death,Baudrillard defines the concept of“simulation”as follows,“simulation,in the sense that,from now on,signs are exchanged against eachother rather than against the real”(7),which,according to Baudrillard,is“theemancipation of the sign:the elimination of this‘ancient’obligation to designatesomething”(7).Subsequently,Baudrillard further elaborates on the concept of“simulation”in Simulacra and Simulation.“Simulation simulacra:based on information,the model,cybernetic play.Their aim is maximum operationality,hyperreality,totalcontrol”(121)
