Essay

Hyperreality

Blog Task: Identity - Constructing the Other

The newspaper shown on the right is The Guardian, scanned from the edition printed for Monday 14.03.11.

Othering is more subtle in The Guardian than perhaps in tabloids, and I'm not sure it is fully intentional- but it occurs nonetheless. This in itself is a reflection on the audience. Because the audience believe they are more informed than a tabloid reader, the paper encourages this belief by allowing them to feel superior by purposely making gimmicks like othering more subtle, and using Standard English rather than slang.

I noticed this before I fully analysed it and attributed it to othering; the headline 'Europeans are liberal, anxious- and don't trust politics' infers the idea that we are separate to Europe. The truth is that we are geographically part of Europe, and of course one of the big political players in Europe; even if at times we like to pretend we are still a superpower in our own right. I think this article seems to back that up to some extent also. It speaks as if the UK is an independent entity not part of Europe.

The idea of it being 'the other' is reinforced by the Sandals advert adjacent. Offering us the chance to visit these 'Europeans' suggests they are there as the other to go see/visit, but not one of us.
One of the other places where I have witnessed othering is in the features on Japan considering the incredibly positive adverts alongside them.

After reading such depressing and terrible news, one finds retreat in the advert displayed on the right of the map. The advert implies that 'we are okay' because we're not Japan, and that we are able to 'put our feet up this spring'.

A more intrinsic connection is demonstrated on the page to the right. The article discusses how some people in Japan have no power or communications and are completely cut off, while Sky immediately offers us an unlimited lifestyle in terms of our access to communications. It gives us the illusion of completeness, as we appear to have everything in abundance just because we are in a better position than those in Japan.

Blog Task: Sustainability and Capitalism

Sustainability is  a inter and intra generational level in various spheres of society, such as economic or environmental. It is ideologically a communal concept according to Balser (2008). O'Riordan (1998) describes how sustainability is a process about 'coming to terms with sustainability in all its deeply rich ecological, social, ethical and economic dimensions'.

Capitalism is the operation of a laissez-faire economy, a free market, where the individual is free to pursue wealth accumulation for their benefit. Of course the vital fact here is that whatever one gains however, is at a loss to another. Capitalism constantly fails to create wealth globally therefore- it only allows places and people to succeed at the cost of others. Periodically it will demolish those successes to allow others to succeed too. Perhaps this is where capitalism starts to break that though, in that it always looks for new things to commodify. These are often labelled as 'opportunities' in today's society, but in reality it can be described as a crisis of capitalism. The creation of 'new markets' is one way in which people have tried to work with capitalism to achieve both economic and environmental sustainability, and this is discussed later in the analysis of emerging biofuel markets.

Because capitalism is always looking for ways to expand, it results in mass destruction by oligopolies. Look at the rainforests, where deforestation driven by the capitalist interests of companies like McDonald's occurs on a scale where an area the size of Wales is razed annually. Capitalism also locks those living under capitalist regimes into that system- and those who defy it find it difficult to succeed- at least in economic terms. But potentially this is one problem in itself as capitalism teaches us that increased wealth accumulation equals increased happiness.

The crises of capitalism can be embodied in the collapse of Northern Rock, where depositors had their money tied up into a risky capitalist system. Many people were on track to lose tens of thousands of pounds of their own money as a result, saved only by government intervention. Of course even this did not save the economy. Bail outs in the banks helped to part-secure some people's finances, but many people still lost out while the economy continued to shrink. This is a crises of capitalism- that our lives are essentially based on an unstable, risky system susceptible to boom and bust.

This translates into the places we live. During the boom of the late 90s and first part of the 00s, things were looking up for Bradford and regeneration looked to be arriving here as it had in Leeds. As 2007 came, the crises of capitalism became apparent as a major brownfield site was left undeveloped in the city- with no realistic chance of any proposal coming to fruition any time soon. The site is still empty and the proposed shopping centre looks no closer to being built. Many people claim their lives and their city has been ruined by capitalists.

The way the UK government justifies investment is based on 'value for money'; but value is defined by our government as delivering economic benefits. This is a complete failure of policy and a rejection of their role to protect society, not act as an economic safeguarding agency. It is necessary to move away from this idea to achieve sustainability- other EU states have more positive policy in this area and thus have better environmental records, with higher recycling rates, high speed rail and more public transport use and more efficient housing. Value for money must be considered, but in relation to environmental and social benefits as well as economic benefits if we are to move towards a more sustainable lifestyle.

There are some solutions to this crisis, although I find all of them debatable. Balser discusses bio-diesel, or bio-fuel. Branded as a renewable energy source, bio-diesel requires plants to be grown for the sole reason of producing fuel, and requires more plants to be grown. It is also more expensive than normal fuel, so would take a lot of persuading for it to take off in a capitalist system. Balser later mentions that the BIOX plant is at the sacrifice of social equality too, so its introduction could tarnish sustainability in social fields, even if improving it in others.

Sustainability is not compatible with capitalism because it requires the product to be a commodity for it to work- which while working in favour of one place, works against another place or person. Having said this, I can't see any other way in which sustainability can be encouraged in the world at the moment. It must make economic sense for it to be pursued, and only once sustainable schemes are in place on a wide scale could it be pursued against economic favour.

Blog Task: Looking at Urban Spaces

The Stray in Harrogate is one of the regions most important spaces, hosting Europe's strongest springs. The Stray is protected land under the Stray Act which prohibits ownership of The Stray (it is under common ownership of the people of Harrogate), and thus development on The Stray. The decision to make this space protected came out of a study of representations of the space- ie mapping where the springs are.

In reality, someone must 'manage' The Stray in order to realistically enforce these things, but it is difficult to enforce something when no-one can really decide what The Stray is- people hold different ideals and visions (representational space) of The Stray, which shows in the variations of practice here. This results in a variety of power struggles.


The Stray, as legally greenbelt land, should represent a green lung and improve the environment. There is not much debate that it does this, but there has been an ongoing debate about whether to allow cycling on The Stray. Surely this should be encouraged by those that want to see The Stray remain an icon of environmental benefit, but there are those that say cycling on The Stray is another level at 'chipping away' at the unique protection of The Stray.

The Stray is supposed to belong to the people of Harrogate, and while I think this still remains true in the majority, rules and regulations apply that I'm sure many would dispute. One of the most prominent examples must be barbecues, which like all fires, are banned on The Stray (except the annual bonfire).

We submit to the conventions on The Stray, although I do genuinely think The Stray represents a more liberal stance than smaller urban spaces; which may well be down to a realistic need to control movement.

Power struggles can be seen in Millennium Square strongly too. The concept of the space. representational space, was born out of city planners and thinkers who looked at representations of space, such as maps, and envisaged representational space out of it. For example, John Thorp (Civic Architect), studied and analysed city maps and recognised that essentially a car park, surrounded by civic buildings, could become a new heart for the city. Out of this, the idea for a major new public space was born.

Millennium Square questions whether any public space is really public. Millennium Square is almost entirely paved- and as such is as much of a money spinner as any of the surrounding buildings. The space was designed to be paved in order to host large events- over 7000 people can be held in Millennium Square for any event from paid concerts to football matches on the Big Screen.

Millennium Square also is closed to traffic. There are bollards and reinforced barriers at each entrance to the square, where roads once criss-crossed the space, to make sure traffic cannot enter the square. While this is surely positive, it does show how an authority (in this case Leeds City Council) controls the square.

There are some strong examples of control in the roads around the square. To the north of the square, disabled parking is in operation- although of course one could easily deny this (but face a fine). On the west side of the square, a complex one way system with contraflow cycle lanes are in place. All of this could be ignored if one wanted to. Having said this, it would be rather dangerous to do so. In these situations, the individuals are no longer individuals but just another car in the line of traffic. The three above points regarding Millennium Square show the council's interpretation of practice in the space, but certain sects of the public may have different ideals of the space and thus practice those things there- two examples are skateboarding or the annual water fight so hated by many.

One way in which I would commend The Stray over Millennium Square is that there are no fences or walls on The Stray so people are free to wander- and frequently do- off the path. So perhaps the transparency here is more genuine than in Millennium Square where it is little more than illusion as control is heavily enforced here.

Blog Task: Semiotics

The image to the right is a diegesis taken from The Sun at the time of the Falkland War. It employs en element of social constructivism in terms of the reader forming their identity from the view of perceived society, as well as some heavy othering.

The images of the ships when shown with captions become indexical as they could simply be iconic images of ships without the captions- and of course to further deconstruct this, the images are only copies or signifiers of the real thing anyway. The addition of captions however infers a link, and the reader works out that they signify something.

The images alone would also be synchronic, but when placed with text and a 'story', they become diachronic as the viewer imagines a narrative and can, without knowing the actual scene, work out what the before and after scenes would be.

The language is geared towards a certain audience; one assumes a right wing conservative sect. In a denotational sense, 'Argies' could be seen as simply an abbreviation of Argentinian, but of course there is a connotation of the other, the enemy. It can be seen as an almost racist slur, while 'our lads' implies the idea that we have some sort of personal relationship to them, as if they're our sons. There is a heavy implication that we are the superior, and they are the evil power. The caption labelled 'crippled' states this rather obviously by using the word 'super'.

The headline itself is not a 'real' word, and is rarely used in the actual situation- its almost a word that is ever used when trying to add a bit of humour to a cat and mouse situation.

The 'Battle For The Islands' image tries to reference back to wartime posters in the typography and layout used. There is a wartime connotation that many of that generation would remember.

A convention of The Sun, demonstrated perfectly in this article, is the typography and how it is more than just text. 'GOTCHA' is written in uppercase, bold and condensed- it has impact to it. As typography is an indexical representation of a voice, this implies a confident, superior, loud voice- exactly the sort of voice you would imagine a proud person (or in this case, the UK) saying with conviction to a lesser enemy, in this case Argentina.

'Union Boycotts War' paints the unions as not just against the war, but against our pride and Britain due to the diegetic nature of the page.

Everything on this front page relates to the Falkland War except for the footer. As the article itself is so positive, I would not be hesitant to argue that the reader would feel particularly optimistic after reading the article then see that they could win £50,000 on Bingo, and be more likely to look at page 20 than if they were to had read a depressing article.

Blog Task: Essay Ideas - Hyperreality in Contemporary Retail

Introductory Points

• Hyperreality is embodied in simulacra which takes centre stage on the modern high street
• Simulacra drives the high street and people's desire for commodities
• Hyperreality exists on the high street outside of simulacra also though, in more subtle ways such as the way it is communicated to the consumer (such as the shopping experience itself)
• Sign values reign on the high street
• Oligopolies are masked behind a friendly high street facade that presents them as community resources

Baudrillard, J (1970), 'The Consumer Society', London, SAGE

A good insight into the overall situation of how the modern consumer submits to hyperreality

P64

• Sign Exchange Value operating, not a use value
• Hyperreal ethics- a belief in a statement of values

Baudrillard, J (1994), 'Simulacra and Simulation', Michigan, University of Michigan

Further analysis of hyperreality and how it is embodied in commodified products

Debord, G (1967), 'The Society of the Spectacle', New York, Zone Books

Guy Debord's take on how society revolves not around each other, but around the hyperreality associated with products
Observations regarding American Apparel
P12

• An immense accumulation of spectacles
• Operates on the basis of images & signs

Eco, U (1986), 'Travels in Hyperreality', London, Pan Books Ltd

Umberto Eco looking at the progression of hyperreality and how it has risen in importance in relation to the rise of capitalism

The Hyperreal Environment: Abercrombie & Fitch

• Dark shop, coloured lights, loud music, employed dancers- resembles a club that puts the mind into a hyperreal gear. The reality is that the 'party goer' is a consumer, spending real money.
• Upper Right: Queueing to get into Abercrombie and Fitch, London

McLuhan, M (1964), 'Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man', Abingdon, Routledge

Marshall McLuhan talking about communication and how hyperreality exists within that; 'the medium is the message'

Right: An image of a student lockdown in Urban Outfitters, where art from local colleges is displayed giving the feeling of a community hub. Students buy into the hyperreality by thinking they are at a sort of party when actually they might as well be in Primark or Tesco at the end of the day.

Observations regarding Urban Outfitters

• The medium is the message (Mcluhan, 1964) can be applied to:
• UO's use of Facebook as a 'friend'
• UO's student lockdowns; 'parties'
• UO's art & music events, that appear to put them onto the same level as a gallery or cutting-edge music venue
• Independent music played in store
• All these things add up to result in a pseudo-individualism (Adorno, 1941) in the consumer

Observations regarding Adidas Originals

Baudrillard, J, 1983, 'Simulations', P96, unknown, USA

• Objects become undefined simulacra one of the other
• Origin no longer a concern
• Never need to be counterfeited (although sign exchange value means they are)

The intricacies taking place here can be partly summed up by the thoughts of Debord, who states that 'we live our lives through watching the lives of others, so our lives become these lives we watch- a false life.' (Debord, 1967). He elaborates; 'the loss of quality is so obvious at every level, from the objects it lauds to the behaviour it regulates merely echoes the basic traits of a real production process that shuns reality. The commodity form is characterised exclusively by self equivalence- it is exclusively quantative in nature. The quantative is what it develops and it can only develop within the quantative.' (Debord, 1967)

In other words, once we enter into the inevitable life of observing others, we become psychologically imprisoned;locked into a cycle where 'tastes' (that are mostly false), can only develop within themselves- it s the fashion that sets trends and we live at the pace of objects (Baudrillard, 1970).

Other interesting bits in 'The Consumer Society'- potential tangents though.

• P49 Happiness has to be measurable; IKEA- 'Happiness Inside'
• P64 advertising draws on relations to others' American Apparel ads

Notes: Globalisation, Sustainability and the Media

Capitalist vs Socialist

Standford Encylopedia of Philosophy
McLuhan- The Global Village, Understanding Media

McDonaldsisation
The age of no alternative

Jihad vs McWorld

Oligopolies
Funding
Ownership

Mr. Lunchbreath: Greenwashing