Filozofska istraživanja, Vol. 40 No. 4, 2020.
Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.21464/fi40406
Beyond Simulacrum: West in Westworld
Stevan Bradić
orcid.org/0000-0002-8943-7369
; Univerzitet u Novom Sadu, Filozofski fakultet, Dr Zorana Đinđića 2, RS–21000 Novi Sad
Abstract
As an atypical product of mass culture, the acclaimed series Westworld (2016) presents us with a layered dystopian narrative formed around several political issues relevant to our contemporary society. It uses a pastiche of the American history, staged as the Wild Westthemed amusement park, presented in the form of simulacrum (J. Baudrillard, G. Deleuze). As a reference with no referent, this park uses a network of historical signifiers to construct a space for the externalisation of fantasies of its clients, consequently commodifying the imaginary itself, and creating surplus value for its owners. Simultaneously, within its reach, conscious androids conduct all of the necessary labour for its unimpeded functioning, although their consciousness and labour are not recognised and accepted. Because they structurally occupy a position of slaves in relation to humans, I will analyse this series as a political allegory on the masterslave dialectics (Hegel) established in the very heart of hyperreality that suggests a possibility of the return of the real, based on the rebellion of the androids. I intend to show how, because of the model of consciousness it maintains, the series is unable to fulfil what it implies.
Keywords
simulacrum; dialectics; master; slave; consciousness; overcoming
Hrčak ID:
251493
URI
Publication date:
17.12.2020.
Visits: 2.384 *