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0 pointsNition6h ago0 comments

I don't know if I have a good argument for it myself. I have seen a lot of people saying specifically that they based their {thing} on {prior thing} rather than something from life, but I haven't exactly kept a list. Beyond that it's mostly a feeling.

To give an extreme example, just to make what I'm talking about obvious, this recent Instacart superbowl ad comes to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXGTaGjqERc

Nothing about the scene or anyone in it is really connected to any reality; the whole thing is like a second-level simulation of prior media.

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4thguy6h ago

Your observation reminds me of this book, Simulcra and Simulation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation

The very brief (and bastardised) summary is that we're cutting ourselves from what is real, so we base our art on the fake reality that we're experiencing.

I'll never forget when one of my teachers asked: "who has seen a sheep?" The entire class put up their hand. The next question was "who has seen a live sheep, in front of them?" more than half the class put their hand down. We all know what a sheep looks like, but not because we've been near one.

NitionOP6h ago

Yes indeed, I'm aware of it, though I admit I never finished the whole thing. It did make me notice this situation even more acutely.

It's funny that the part everyone quotes from the book (namely the Borges fable and the 'desert of the real itself') is in the introduction. Makes me wonder how many others didn't actually get through it. :)

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