Community and the Procession of Simulacrum

Community and the Procession of Simulacrum

            Baudrillard writes of, among other important observations, the idea of simulacra. A simulacrum is something that represents nothing. A classic example is a painting or statue of God when, in reality, the notion of “God” has become so perverted that it no longer exists, just the representations of him. Baudrillard discusses four steps of reaching this point: (1) basic reflection of reality, (2) perversion of reality; (3) pretence of reality (where there is no model); and (4) simulacrum, which "bears no relation to any reality whatsoever." In both episodes of community, the characters find themselves in a situation that they identify as something they’ve seen on television but in actuality, isn’t true.

            Abed is awkward in his reality. He can’t talk to people, has no social skills, and has yet to find his role in the study group. When the chicken coup takes place, he suddenly has not only a purpose but also an understanding of what’s going on around him for the first time. In his voice over narration he merits his newfound understanding to copious viewings of mob movies. The way the chicken system is set up is borrowed directly from mob/heist movies and even mimics the cinematic styling. As Abed describes the different jobs of his “family,” the camera follows the chicken through the process of being fried, snuck out the back door, divvied up, and redistributed to the students in the cafeteria. The system is bound to fall apart, though, as it’s not based on anything real. Abed, who is the newly appointed “king” of the study group, is limited by the simulacrum he’s absorbed through media. He runs his operation the way heist movies are run because he doesn’t know any better.

            In the second episode we watched, the school is taken over by zombies at the Halloween party. Zombies are a great example of simulacra because they don’t exist. The recent influx of zombie-related books, movies, and music has led to a bit of a confusion amongst the general public. What started out as a joke has now turned into a “real possibility.” Even ecclesiastical leaders in the LDS church are using the threat of a zombie apocalypse to motivate their congregations to build up their food storage (admittedly this story came from a friend of a friend of the internet so the validity is questionable, but not out of the realm of possibility, nor even a terrible idea). The history of modern zombies can be traced through Baudrillard’s four steps. There is a fear of disease, epidemics, and plagues. An illness that is caught quickly and is severe isn’t unheard of and is probably a smart thing to look out for. This idea is the basic reflection of reality. It’s possible, it’s happened in the past, let’s not forget about it. Then it’s taken and perverted slightly. Suddenly the disease doesn’t just give someone the flu or kill them in a day, it changes them physically and mentally so that they are still technically living but are no longer themselves. This has a logic base, as most people aren’t really themselves when they’re sick. The pretense of reality comes from media in which they use science-y sounding jargon to explain how a disease could absolutely turn someone into the walking dead. Suddenly “zombies” are born and they hunger for human flesh and brains. It becomes full on simulacra when it’s so ubiquitous that movies like, “Warm Bodies” can be produced and need not explain the phenomena of zombies. Suddenly, the walking dead represent something that doesn’t actually exist.

            For the group in community this becomes the case at their Halloween party when everyone eats what they think is Army issued chip dip but is actually a quarantined sample of one of these fictional diseases. Everyone begins to act like what they think zombies should act like. They bite each other, walk lethargically, and moan. Many members of the study group avoid the first bout of contamination. It quickly spreads to them as well. In the end the military infiltrates the school, distributes the vaccine, and erases their memories, blaming it on a mass rufie situation. This provides an example of one of Baudrillard’s other points: that nothing in our life is real anymore, everything is just a procession of simulacra. Things like Disneyland (or zombies) exist to convince us that although that’s not real, the rest of our life is. Community points this point out too, as the characters did (in their reality) survive a Zombie attack but have no recollection of it. The reality they think they’re living (being mass rufied) is the actual lie while the zombie attack is closer to the truth.

            Baudrillard doesn’t attempt to find a solid solution besides awareness and Community tries even less to suggest any type of agenda or commentary. While the theorist is trying to shed light on what he imagines to be the harsh realities of life (or lack thereof), media like Community uses these concepts to create light, funny, entertaining productions, reminding us in an almost Lyotard-ian way, not to take ourselves too seriously.