Saturday, December 12, 2009
Third Order of Simulacra...at a toy store near you
Has anyone heard of these zhu zhu hamsters? Apparently, they are the must have toy this holiday season and at under $10, they seem like quite the steal...except that they are currently going for much more since they are so popular. All this leads me to wonder: why not just buy a real hamster? I mean, its not like they require a lot of care and the whole draw of these things is that they behave just like the real thing--just buy a real hamster!
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I think its hilariously apocalyptic that in order to watch the hamster video to find out how the product is selling so well, you first must watch an advertisement that is just as long as the actual video. I say apocalyptic because without even considering consumerism and mechanical reproductions link we are first introduced the tier level approach of selling products. This product sells, the beginning advertisement will act as a preface. The power of association is perhaps a gift from television advertising: if we're in the desolate woods it may help us to think horizontally--non-linear, associative--rather than vertically--linear, narrative.
ReplyDeleteLeslie, I think you raise a really interesting question. Why *don't* people just accept the real thing?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure everyone's heard of those plastic, life-size dolls that they make in Japan. They're designed for shy Japanese men who are too afraid to approach women. These dolls are not only made to be realistic (the dolls have movable joints and human hair) but people can order them customized to fit the ideal female that they would want to meet. Some of the men who order these dolls even claim that they prefer them over human interactions! Wouldn't it be strange if a child claimed to prefer an electronic pet over an actual pet?
To put this issue into a post-apocalyptic perspective, do you think humans would try to re-create these types of things that didn't survive the apocalypse? Would we try to craft and build furry creatures to be our replacement pets? Or worse, would we try to create makeshift humans to keep us company if we were alone?
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ReplyDeleteHamsters stink. They poop. They need water. They need care and all that other bullshit. To borrow from Maria's comment, we don't need the real thing. Sometimes the image of the real thing is enough. This is the case when it comes to Santa. We don't need the real Santa, we just need a fat man with a beard to wear red and we have our guy. I can't look at a man walk down the street that is older, larger, and has a beard and not think that's Santa. It is in many ways my nature. It is my Santa, and that is real enough for me. The same, in many ways could be said for these toys hamsters. When a kid gets tired of them they just throw it away. Now if it were alive, that child would be labeled as a future serial-killer. And they're probably right. People are lazy; we don't want the real thing. We want to love a hamster but not do all the things that love requires us to do. The fake is always more sufficient, it requires less attention.
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