Halo Maps Forum

i think we are in the age of post modernism which is a really scary place to be. all around me i see simulations taking more precedence over what they are simulating. internet forums, aim/msn chat, talking on the phone and texting are all simulations of personal conversation and interaction, however these simulations are overtaking the interaction that they are simluating. people would rather talk online than talk in real life. the simulations are so prevalent that people mistake simulations for what is real. people often compare their lives to TV shows and movies, which seems like a normal thing for us to do, but what youre really doing is comparing your meaningful existence to a simulation of it. instead of saying "hey this tv show is just like my life!" we say "my life is just like this tv show!". it may seem like a slight change in semantics but its actually a really scary difference if you think about it. virtual reality is becoming reality, and IMAGE is beginning to have more emphasis than MEANING in our society.

if you write well, using fancy big words, or you write stylishly, or you write in a unique voice, you dont have to really say anything at all in order to gain a fanbase for your work. your argument doesnt even matter, its just the way you present it.

this is true for any art. music has become very superficial, not only in the mainstream but indie music as well. it seems like image and gimmicks and bandnames are more important than the actual music. it seems like anyone with a hot girl in their band is destined for fame. this is why bands fame don't last very long, no matter how good their music is. their image gets stale. new bands that want to STAY hip and current must constantly recreate their image. they most focus most of their creative energy on how to present themselves instead of writing songs.

"irony" is very prevalent in hip music today. this "irony" blurs meaning completely, to the point that you never know whether a song or band is being ironic or being genuine. the ironic "parody" of meaning trumps genuine meaning here. when things are a copy of a copy of a copy of a meme of a meme of a meme of a parody of a parody of a parody, its hard to tell what these things were even referring to originally anymore. its like reading an encyclopedia, in which one entry tells you to refer to another, and that one tells you to refer to another, etc, until you dont even know what entry you started with.

movies and videogames are relying more and more on presentation. the plot of a movie or the gameplay in a videogame seem almost irrelevant now. as long as there are shiny CGI explosions and a realistic physics engine and blood splatter that looks SO REAL!! it can sell millions of dollars. meaning is completely lost to image.

why are we so obsessed as a culture with realism in videogames and movies? why do the special effects that we consider the "best" are the ones that look most real? this is just another instance of post-modernism, or fascination with simulations becoming more real than what they are simulating. i keep talking about this but its just so true i see it every where i look.

videogames and movies are becoming more and more real looking, but more and more far off from actual real life. because while the IMAGE projects realism by looking real, the MEANING (or plot) of the game projects something far different. and since all MEANING in our art is slowly becoming meaningless and irrelevant in our visually-based society, our generations perception of REALITY is becoming skewed and twisted into something that is VIRTUAL REALITY. i fear that soon we wont be able to distinguish between REALITY and VIRTUAL REALITY. i fear that IMAGE will not only become more important than MEANING, but IMAGE WILL BECOME THE ONLY MEANING.

where will we be 50 or 100 years down the road? how disconnected from reality will we be? how desensitized will we be? how many weird unknown cancers will there be due to depleted ozone and insanely high levels of radiation in the air? how long will we remain plugged in until "hate", "love" and other deep, complex, passionate emotions become just another meme?