I’m confused about the simulacrum level of texts that don’t pretend that you should take them literally.
For example novels, articles in The Onion, ironic remarks, obvious exaggerations, metaphors, or jokes.
Each of these can be used to influence our view of the world, so just giving up and saying that the concept of simulacrum levels does not apply in these cases is unsatisfactory.
My first understanding of simulacrum levels was that these types of texts would never be level 1 simulacrum because they do not give an accurate map of the real world, and they would typically be at least level 3. On the other hand, level 3 and 4 does not really fit because often such texts do try to influence our view of the world rather than our view of the sender. George Orwell pointed at something in the real world in 1984 and it wasn’t important who wrote that novel, so 1984 can be understood as a level 1 text.
My current understanding (after having only understood simulacrum levels for a day) is that even at level 1, you don’t have to understand the text literally. Instead, to find the simulacrum level of a text, you have to first translate the text into a message, and then analyze why the sender wants to send that message.
I’m confused about the simulacrum level of texts that don’t pretend that you should take them literally.
For example novels, articles in The Onion, ironic remarks, obvious exaggerations, metaphors, or jokes.
Each of these can be used to influence our view of the world, so just giving up and saying that the concept of simulacrum levels does not apply in these cases is unsatisfactory.
My first understanding of simulacrum levels was that these types of texts would never be level 1 simulacrum because they do not give an accurate map of the real world, and they would typically be at least level 3. On the other hand, level 3 and 4 does not really fit because often such texts do try to influence our view of the world rather than our view of the sender. George Orwell pointed at something in the real world in 1984 and it wasn’t important who wrote that novel, so 1984 can be understood as a level 1 text.
My current understanding (after having only understood simulacrum levels for a day) is that even at level 1, you don’t have to understand the text literally. Instead, to find the simulacrum level of a text, you have to first translate the text into a message, and then analyze why the sender wants to send that message.