Simulacra of the Housewife

According to Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007), simulation is dedicated to total experiential identification through immersion.  It conceals the absence of the real which to my mind, is exactly what Plato was worried about happening with imitation. The identity of the viewer becomes wrapped within the simulacra a to such an extent that all aspects of the psyche become conformed to that experience (Baudrillard .  

So it seems to me that simulation always has a definitive intention that is ever conscious of the simulacra.  Simulation is about creating an objective experience.  It is more scientific, calculated and concrete.  Because there is no referent, it becomes a reference.  Simulation is what happens when the sense of a “profound reality,” as Baudrillard calls it is lost.  Where it lacks meaning to the actual, it reinforces meaning if the “other” because is imposes an entirely new reality on the mind.  This makes simulacra an invaluable tool in method of control, suppression and oppression.

As a method of control, simulations can be used as a tool for anticipating outcomes through scientific method.  In this context, simulation goes beyond potential into the realm of probability.

As a method of suppression, it refers to the concealing the absence of the real that Baudrillard describes as a “system of death.”  The actual has already been dismantled and usurped by the simulacra, which continues to dismantle and usurp that which was related to the original.  All of this can only begin with the oppression of the original.  As a tool of oppression, simulacrum undermines the existence of the actual by occupying their space and or function, until they are destroyed and suppression must step in.

I believe celebrity culture is the latest pervasive simulacrum that challenges the actual on multiple levels.  It is to the point now that people are made celebrated simply for living.  This is the premise behind reality television, specifically “The Real Housewives” franchise.  They perfectly illustrate the “system of death” Baudrillard observes as a threat to the real.  It begins with the idea of a “housewife” which itself is a simulacrum.  Its connotation is a woman whose position in society is related to her home and the maintenance of it.  It emphasizes that the value of a woman exists on material things outside herself.  In actuality, there is no such thing as a housewife since, what is most obvious and counter to what the name suggests, a woman cannot be married to a house.  A woman is married to another person.  Replacing the role of a spouse with that of an object destroys the idea of a partner and replaces a person with an object.  In this light, it makes sense that in many of the “wives” of the The Real Housewives series are not even married.  They are attached to external things, like career, money, and material possessions.  These are sought after as sources of the personal fulfillment.  Now I have no problem with a woman who enjoys her career and works hard to advance it, but these shows both portray and are manifestations that these women are willing to possess at the expense of meaningful interpersonal relationships.

The shows producers seek to re-present the housewife as a “woman of the new millennium” smart, strong and progressive.  However the very assumption that a woman is less of those things because she chooses her home life as her primary occupation undermines the actual, and erodes its substance. 

Every so often a housewife will express the desire to pursue a career outside of her home, but this too is a simulation. It hides the fact that her participation in the series is proof that she has already done so. 

This is only one example of how reality television is the simulation Baudrillard describes.  Essentially, actual social paradigms such as the idea of family, are first undermined, then dismantled, and finally reconfigured into oppressive social paradigms. They are oppressive because they are presented as a true standard with out being rooted in anything tangible or practical.

On the other hand, The Real Husbands of Hollywood is satire on the Real Housewives series.  It simulates the overall concept of the “original” Real Housewives franchise as a video chronicle of everyday lives of Hollywood celebrity husbands.  The actors simulate their own lives as they play caricatures of their public personas.   

It also simulates the entire concept of reality television.  Juxtaposing the fully fictional antics portrayed on The Real Husbands of Hollywood with the supposed realities of The Real Housewives, the viewer cannot help but question the veracity of what the latter is trying convince us  In this example, simulation is used to reverse itself.  Because of the objectivity created through simulation, the viewer can ultimately be lead back to the beginning concepts that original formally occupied.

The Real Husbands of Hollywood points exactly to the reality that Baudrillard says is lost, that everything you see and hear is completely fabricated. 

References

Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Translated by Sheila Faria Glaser. Ann    Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1994.