French philosopher Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation is one the most significant and daily applicable works of sociology of the 20th century. The sheer wealth of existing entities which inspired its composition and those elements of society which it has in turn inspired spreads across the vast expanse of modern life. The original Disneyland is the iconic real-life representative of what the Industrial Age had become which stimulated Baudrillard’s reasoning. Its equal on the other side—as the iconic representative of what Simulacra and Simulation inspired—is most likely, admittedly arguably and certain appropriately, the film which seems to have shut down the 20th century as it opened the doors to the next millennium: The Matrix.
The central idea of that film—that the entirety of perceived reality is really just a manufactured simulation-lies at the heart of Baudrillard’s work. While Disneyland is famously utilized in the text to demonstrate the theories at work, another movie-inspired bit of manufactured reality is perhaps more appropriate. When John Wayne decided to direct The Alamo, an entire set recreating the original conditions of the Alamo at the time of its siege. Somewhat amazing, this huge outdoor set was actually constructed only one-hundred miles away from where the actual building still stands in San Antonio. What would eventually come to be known as Alamo Village featured replications of the Alamo itself, a nearby cantina, trading post, “Indian store” and other buildings typical of the time period. After filming ended, rather than demolishing the set as might be normally done, it was left standing in a just a few short years became just as popular a tourist destination as the actual Alamo.
Of course, any movie set fully constructed (as facades) to actual scale is bound to draw visitors, but there was another reason for Alamo Village to rival the real thing in tourist numbers. Wayne decided not to film at the actual Alamo because he came to the same realization that occurs to millions of tourists: it never fails to be much smaller than people expect. And so Alamo Village was not just built to scale, but built to the scale of the realities necessary to making a movie. In other words, the simulation of the Alamo became a popular tourist destination because it “seemed” more realistic than the actual thing itself.
It is this element which is essential to fully understanding what Baudrillard is driving at in his text. Anyone with the necessary craftsmanship can create a simulation of something that already exists. It is the very nature of a consumer economy. If one wants to live in a castle, but can’t afford the exorbitant price of purchasing an actual 15th century work of architecture, they have the option of buying an existing home built to look like a castle for two million dollars, or half a million dollars or, if they really want to scale it down, $100, 000. In each case, what is being bought is clearly not a castle, but a simulation of one and the quality of the simulation decreases with each drop in price. Ultimately, however the bargain bin discovery of a castle-like house on the market for $50,000 is really no different than the one that costs thirty million. Neither are actually castles, but merely simulations. The real crisis point is not whether one wants to go into debt for an addition half a million or save money, but whether one can perceive that the cheaper simulation is as satisfying as the more expensive model. And if one can adequately perceive that, it is quick leap to the final element Baudrillard deems necessary for the function of the simulacra.
Alamo Village is the perfect embodiment of this element. Even though it was obviously a movie set constructed without the complicated internal machinery of actual buildings, from the outside it looked perfectly authentic to visitors. Except…most visitors have never actually been to a village from the 19th century untouched by the march of time, so how would they know it seems authentic? Because their perception of “authentic” really meant that it looked like had been presented as 19th century western villages. Of course, Alamo Village looked authentic because it was an authentic example of what they were really expecting. That is why the actual Alamo is so often a disappointment to so many tourists: it just doesn’t look realistic in the sense that it doesn’t look like the fakery presented to them in film and TV.
The simulacra is not merely a simulated reality, it is a twisting of perception. Baudrillard offers an explanation for this necessary requirement in the section on Disneyland: “Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real, whereas all of Los Angeles and the America that surrounds it are no longer real, but belong to the hyperreal order and to the order of simulation.” The same ideological construct can be readily applied to that house built to look like a castle. No matter the cost, it must not actually look like a real castle; the perceptual blip actually relies on the full knowledge that it is a simulation precisely because buying a real castle is beyond the means of all but a select few.
That rarity is what invests the castle with its value: the fact that its plumbing is atrocious, it can never truly be adequately heated, maintenance and repair costs along are more than most people will earn over the course of several years, and then there’s always that pesky problem of intrusive tourists. By buying a simulated castle one not only enjoy the simulated reality of living in a castle, but also cement the illusion that actually owning and living in a real castle would be nothing but cool.
