"Simulacra and Simulation" and Hollywood

[jbor]

Or, for a better take (than _The Matrix_) on one of Baudrillard's major
theme, see Peter Weir's _The Truman Show_.

best_


on 25/5/02 1:24 AM, Otto at o.sell at telda.net wrote:

> And I still recommend this, 'though I guess it will be hard to get in the US
> . . .
> 
> Welt am Draht (World on a Wire, 1973)
> P1 99 min., P2 106 min., colour, German w/English subtitles, 35 mm, New
> Print.
> Cast: Klaus Löwitsch, Macha Elm Rabben, Adrian Hoven
> "I directed a series of two one-and-a-half-hour segments based on a novel by
> Daniel F. Galouyé. It´s a very beautiful story called "World on A Wire" that
> depicts a world where one is able to make projections of people with a
> computer. And, of course, that leads to the uncertainty of whether someone
> is himself  a projection, since in this virtual world the projections
> resemble reality. Perhaps another larger world made us as a virtual one? In
> this sense it deals with an old philosophical model, which here takes  on a
> certain horror."  (Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1973)
> http://www.goethe.de/uk/mon/archiv/eweltamdraht.htm
> 
> In the near future, a team of researchers are using the powerful
> supercomputer Simulacron-1 to create an extremely detailed and realistic
> virtual reality full of 'people' who are in fact programs that can be
> terminated at the whim of the scientists. But when project leader Henry
> Vollmer dies, his successor, Dr Fred Stiller, notices that something is not
> right in the institute. When a close friend suddenly vanishes in the middle
> of a conversation and no-one can ever remember seeing him, Stiller begins to
> wonder if anything around him is real at all and comes to believe that maybe
> he's just one of Simulacron-1's programs...
> http://www.eofftv.com/welt_am_draht_main.htm
> 
> RWF biography & filmography
> http://www.blockbuster.com/bb/person/details/0,7621,BIO-P+89436,00.html
> 
> Otto
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David Morris" <fqmorris at hotmail.com>
> To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Friday, May 24, 2002 3:36 PM
> Subject: "Simulacra and Simulation" and Hollywood
> 
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/24/opinion/24FRI4.html
> 
> A French Philosopher Talks Back to Hollywood and 'The Matrix'
> 
> The French philosopher Jean Baudrillard seemed to fight off a yawn when I
> asked him recently about the celebrity that has come to him through "The
> Matrix," a futuristic cyber-thriller that hit the screen three years ago and
> became one of the hottest movies of all time. Before this movie, Mr.
> Baudrillard's dense little book "Simulacra and Simulation" was studied
> mainly by cloistered graduate students and theory-heads. Because "The
> Matrix" cribbed from the book for its dialogue and gave a full-screen shot
> of the title, "Simulacra and Simulation" has become a cult hit, even though
> it is difficult to pronounce and not easy to read. The book's profile is
> likely to rise even higher when the first of two sequels hits the screen
> next year.
> 
> 
>