Fight Club

In 1999, Larry and Andy Wachowski directed The Matrix, a movie featuring the future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality or cyberspace called "the Matrix”. This fake reality was created by sentient machines to pacify and subdue the human population. To some, this movie represents just another brilliant Hollywood sci-fi action film, but for others, it challenges the understanding of perspective, reality and appearance ("The matrix 101," 2003). The Matrix heavily relies on the concepts of Irish Philosopher George Berkeley who believed reality, or reality as humans perceive it, is fundamentally mental and therefore immaterial which is known as Idealism.

Hollywood cinema also produces its own realities on the big screen. As Cecil B. De Mille. Goldfish and Samuel Goldfish claimed during the production of the first motion picture, “when real life doesn’t fit a preconceived image, create another reality” (xi). Since that 1913 statement, Hollywood has fostered this type of reality-making that results into an escape for its audiences. Aside from the physical escape of traveling to the movies or Blockbuster in order to view these films, audiences are also invested in the characters they view on screen. However, Webb informs the public that “what appears on the screen is a stylized version of real life (or a plausible vision of imaginary worlds) that is made possible by the prolonged collaborative effort of hundreds, working in support of a celebrated few” (3). The “reality” of the cinema lies in producers, directors, actors, back-lots, etc. involved in its creation rather

This idea is represented in the matrix by “The Desert of the Real” and the motifs of mirrors throughout the movie. The reflections represent the confusion toward the blurred line between reality and simulation. Similarly, this idea of the blurred line between reality and simulation is reflected with Cypher’s conversation with Agent Smith. A firm believer in the theory “ignorance is bliss”, Cypher prefers the ‘happier’ simulated life to the truth facing him. By emphasising this simulated environment, the Wachowski brothers allow us to analyse our own dependency on technology for our lives. Similarly, Card analyses this idea of human kind living in a simulacra in his novel Ender’s game. Not knowing the truth, Ender is deceived by his military superiors into believing that the real battle against the buggers was simply a computer game. “Real. Not a game.” After this sudden revelation, Ender cannot cope with his existence, and only finds redemption in religion. In both texts, the composers use textual forms to highlight the idea that computers are used to create a simulation which absorbs the user, hiding them from the realities of life.

In his article, The Precession of Simulacra, Baudrillard establishes simulation as a copy of an original or otherwise reality. This concept is even apparent in the title, The Precession of Simulacra, since precession is something that precedes or comes first, and a simulacrum is an image or representation of something else; in that sense, the title literally states that an image precedes its original. Thus, Baudrillard argues that simulation adopts a reality effect in which the viewer’s view of the real world is skewed and this notion is easily seen throughout the CSI episode of “The Living Doll.”

There were many examples of how the characters in the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" manifested power in and through their lives. One example of this is with the character Big George. He was a black man who lived in the town. He also did the barbeque at the Whistle Stop Cafe. A big example of how he manifested power was through his dealings with racism. This movie took place in the 1930's, a time period where the black race was greatly looked down upon and thought to be lesser than white people. This could also be seen when Idgie's friend tells her he has to bring her to Georgia the next day because she is being convicted of Frank Bennett's murder. He basically tells her to pack up and leave the town so she is not arrested and also tells her

1. Brian is a perfectionist when it comes to school. Only once has he got any grade under an “A”. Brian’s parents but a ton of pressure on Brian to perform exceptionally in school.

In post-modern thought, the shift from grand narrative and universal truth to more local simplistic truth is very important. The shift instils a sense realism, when engaging in post-modern thought. In contrast Baudrillard (1991) coined the phrase ‘hyperreality’ which the inability of distinguish between simulation and reality. This is a stark contrast to the sense of realism that post-modern thought engages in. However, this does present an avenue in which to critique the culture of today. One show titled Ricky & Morty, created by Dan Harmon & Justin Rowland engage in this sort of critique. Dan Harmon & Justin Rowland use philosophy as a vehicle to drive their meta-narratives, critiquing the foundation of life through various different characters. They pay homage to Baudrillard and his work Simulacra and Science Fiction (1991) in the episode ‘Mortynight Run’. In this episode Morty plays the game ‘ROY’, in which he puts on a Virtual

The movie “Fight Club” is an American based film that was produced in 1999. The production was done after the release of a novel in 1996 by Chuck Palahniuk. The movie involved stars such as Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter and David Fincher is the director. An overall analysis of the video shows that it is a very disturbing film in that it questions our conscience, our phobias, obsessions, reality as well as habits. Many individuals up to date presume that it is visually stimulating, insightful and at the same time provoking.

There’s a common theme throughout entertainment and politicians, it is filled with drama and it is deceiving many times. “Not everything you see online is true”, many older people will say. However, an author named Chris Hedges wrote in “Empire of Illusion” that “the most essential skill…is artifice”, proving that the media is filled with misleading information. The issue is that being realistic is irrelevant and will make the information seem “unreal” and ignored. Therefore, I believe that it is important to appear with such qualities in propaganda for success and to capture the audience's interest.

Representation refers to the construction in any media (especially mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ that can either mirror or subvert societal expectations. They are often based on negative stereotypes allowing the audience to feel secure and familiar. By definition, all media texts are re-presentations of reality. They are intentionally composed, lit, written, framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their producers, they are entirely artificial versions of the reality perceived in the current world. Every media form, from a home video to a glossy magazine, is a representation of someone's concept of existence, codified into a series of signs and symbols which can be read by an audience. However, it is important to

Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” represents how people identify and process everything around us. People rely on their immediate senses to understand and make their own opinion of reality. We have to touch, hear, or smell something in order to believe it. Our biggest misconception come from our sight. The posters and advertisements are real but it does not mean that what’s in them is real as well. The models on the advertisements we know are real but the photo may not be real. There are many tools they use to make the model look exactly how we think she should look. In reality it took a lot of work and effort to make that image seem real. Reality is we all have flaws, but flaws are not advertised. Perfection appears to be reality and the

Jean Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality focuses on how people have become immersed in the media and these false replications of reality. These simulacra – meaning a fake copy of something – become the central point in our lives. In Pan’s Labyrinth, the young protagonist Ofelia creates a simulated world in her own imagination to escape the reality of her ill mother and having to move in with her cruel new stepfather, Captain Vidal. This world is a simulation of reality – a fantasy world that exists inside the real world. Ofelia is unable to discern the fake world from the real world, resulting in the audience also not being able to differentiate between the two, especially as it is told primarily through her perspective.

In Jean Baudrillard’s text “Simulacra and Simulation”, Baudrillard argues that repeated simulation of a depiction over time causes a loss of the original thing that was copied and eventually the copied thing replaces original; he coined this notion the Simulacra. Baudrillard notes “That eventually in contemporary times, the referent disappears altogether and people come to live in pure simulations, replications of reality that resemble it in all respects save they are representations…1”. Such disappearance and replacement of the ‘original’ is seen in John Ajvide Lindqvist’s gut-wrenching novel “Let the Right One In” in which attempts to simulate the role of a vampire’s ‘original’ function actually yields to a drastic change away from the ‘original’

Director David Fincher’s Academy- Award nominated film Fight Club has a couple settings throughout the movie. The most prominent is the house where the narrator stays for most of the movie. This house is “Tyler’s” House and that creates a certain atmosphere for a lot of the movie. The house permeates with the stench of the fight club. This heightens the probability that something crazy with happen here. This becomes all to real after they start recruiting people and project mayhem is put into action. They start making bombs at the house with a way similar to making soap. They even chemically burn every new member at this house with lye. The narrator was the first to experience this phenomenon: “Narrator: OK. Give me some water! Tyler Durden:

Government agent Amanda Waller has a plan to deal with the sudden, Superman-heralded “metahuman” threat to the world, by therefore assembling the worlds most dangerous bad guys into an emergency super-team. And when Midway City becomes the ravaged heart of a plot to stub out the human race, that’s exactly what she does, with expectedly unexpected results.If Marvel has the best superheroes, so the geek-logic goes, then DC has the coolest villains around. So it’s only sensible they’re finally placed front, center and in the firing line. Filling its entire super-team with previously never seen before antagonists, Suicide Squad represents a fast-speed sprint of a catch-up for the rapidly unfolding DC Cinematic Universe. And, on that front at least, it’s makes for a great never seen before film.