I covered a lot of philosophy and literary theory in my undergraduate degree. For the most part, we dissected Freud and Foucault, trying to untangle their ideas and apply them to more standard, classic literature. My senior year, however, I took a fantastic class that applied literary theory to digital media - yes, we applied literary theory to Youtube and Facebook.
The concept from that class which had the greatest impact on me and how I perceive things was Beaudrillard's theory of the simulacra. I'm not a scholar of this theory, far from it, but I did get to play with this concept, comparing it to everyday life. The basic concept of his idea is that there is a copy of something real - a simulacra - but the copy is so good and given enough significance by society (symbols are a good example of this, or name brands which become synonymous with the product), that the copy becomes more real in the minds of society than the original. It is now "hyperreal."
I applied this to Second Life for the class. As I was sitting at work the other day, I realized - American food is a simulacra.
We now have "buttery spreads" that are one molecule away from plastic instead of butter. Apples from McDonald's come in sterile, pre-cut, plastic wrapped sections. The sweetener in Diet Coke turns to formaldehyde once it's heated over 86 degrees. Lean Cuisines - purportedly a "healthy" meal - has a list full of chemical compounds rather than whole food ingredients. Even when cooking at home, Americans are often grabbing a box of Rice a Roni or putting some sort of frozen concoction in the oven. Or, my own personal horror, making Hamburger Helper or Kraft Mac and "Cheese."
To most Americans, this is food. We don't recognize the foreign substance under the reality society has cloaked it in. These foods are marketed to us as real - as healthy even, with added minerals and vitamins. This is why the slow foods movement is so important to me. We need to return to a time in which we prepare our own food from scratch and rely less on pre-fabricated pseudo-foods. The convenience "food" industry is booming - but most of the ingredients in those products aren't even food.
It's time for a change. We need food which came from whole, recognizable ingredients. I, for one, am ready to stop eating a half-rate copy of something much better.
I think about this a lot too, though I didn't even know about a "theory of the similacra." I've eaten real butter for years and I can't imagine how anyone can eat those spreads. Recently I started making creme fraiche instead of buying sour cream. Check out the ingrediants on the side of your sour cream container and you'll be amazed. Creme fraiche is so much better, just cream and buttermilk. If you've never made it, just google the recipe and try it out.
ReplyDelete