Stanley Kubrick - A Filmography

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Hyperreality and the New Statue of Liberty Stamp

from Sociological Images by Gwen Sharp

Postmodernist theory is Jean Baudrillard’s arguments about hyperreality. Without getting into the details of semiotics or postmodernism, hyperreality refers to a situation where the signs (particularly media images) used to represent reality become more real to us than the original reality they were supposed to represent. I don’t know if Baudrillard discussed Las Vegas — Disneyland and L.A. were his favorite examples, from what I can tell — but you could certainly teach an entire class on hyperreality using Vegas as your case study. Baudrillard came to mind when we read a BoingBoing article about a mistake from the U.S. Postal Service. The USPS recently released this stamp:

So, a stamp feature the Statue of Liberty. Nothing shocking there. Except…it turns out the image on the stamp isn’t based on the actual Statue of Liberty. A perceptive stamp collector realized that the image is actually of the replica of the Statue of Liberty that stands outside the New York-New York casino:

[Image by Michael and Malin Börjesso.]

Close-ups reveal distinct differences between the original and the replica; for instance, the facial features are more defined on the replica (on the left below), and the hair, the proportions of the arm, and folds of the clothing are different:

[Via Linn's Stamp News.]

The U.S. Postal Service produced the stamp and released it along with information about the history of the actual Statue of Liberty. And thus we have a representation (the stamp) of a representation (the photo that served as the model for the stamp) of a representation (the replica statue in Las Vegas) of the original thing the Postal Service intended to portray…and no one there caught the slippage between the intended reality and the representation at any point in the production process.

I think Baudrillard would get a kick out of this.

For more on hyperreality, see Baudrillard’s book Simulacra and Simulation.

(View original at http://thesocietypages.org/socimages)

With censors swamped, Canberra signals it's time for self-regulation

by Melissa Fyfe, The Age, April 3, 2011

Illustration: Matt Golding.

IN A significant change to the way Australia censors and classifies information and entertainment, the Gillard government has conceded that some industries will have to self-regulate and classify their own products. In an interview with The Sunday Age, Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said Australia cannot create an ''army of classifiers'' to assess the huge amount of new material available to people - particularly mobile phone games, video and applications. The Australian Law Reform Commission last month began the first major review of the National Classification Scheme in 20 years.

Mr O'Connor said self-regulation was likely to feature in a new system. While it was unlikely films would move to self-regulation, it was impractical for the Classification Board to check material across all new platforms. ''It may be that we reduce regulation. There may be more obligations on industry to deal with matters in a self-regulatory way,'' he said. ''The amount of information people have to look at to classify is growing and we can't create an army of classifiers; it is too unwieldy and expensive.''

The Law Reform Commission review will look at the current classification categories, the rapid pace of technological change, the effect of media on children, and how to classify mobile and online games. In Australia today, some banned computer games are available uncensored on smart phones. Producers of phone applications and games say submitting their products to the Classification Board will be too costly. The games industry welcomed the minister's comments on self-regulation. ''There's a large push from a wide group to have a system that is self-regulated,'' said Ron Curry, head of the industry body Interactive Games and Entertainment Association. Apart from the Law Reform Commission review there are several parliamentary inquiries running into the classification scheme, including a lower house inquiry about the regulation of inappropriate outdoor advertising and a Senate probe into the film and literature classification scheme.

[via]

Video games reform rebuffed over violence fears

By Melissa Fyfe, The Age, 2 April 2011

A weapon is raised in the first-person shooter F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin.

LONG-AWAITED reforms of Australia’s censorship of computer games look set to fail after Victoria declared its strong concern that the move will legalise games with ‘‘high levels of graphic, frequent and gratuitous violence’’. Backed by a groundswell of support from the gaming community, the Gillard government is determined to fix the classification system for computer games, which allows unsuitable games to be rated for 15-year-olds, yet bans popular games for adults. But the Baillieu government’s Attorney-General, Robert Clark, has echoed the concerns of the Australian Christian Lobby, putting him on a collision course with Canberra, which requires the backing of all states and territories to change classification laws.

Australia is one of the few developed nations with no R18+, or adults-only, category for computer games, which means many violent games are ‘‘shoehorned’’ into the MA15+ category and made available to children. Some games, such as Grand Theft Auto, are censored in Australia but are still rated for 15-year-olds despite containing prostitution and drug-use themes. In February, the Classification Board banned from Australia the latest version of the popular and long-running Mortal Kombat franchise — because it decided its realistic depictions of ‘‘brutal forms of slaughter’’ made it unsuitable for an MA15+ rating — angering thousands of players and raising the ire of the $1.7billion computer game industry.

Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor has told the states and territories that the July meeting of attorneys-general is D-Day for a decision on the reform, which has sat on their agenda for almost a decade. The reform will create an R18+ category for games, providing, Mr O’Connor says, adult gamers with more choice and better parental advice about the suitability of games. Mr Clark told The Sunday Age that he welcomed one impact of the reform — that some games classified MA15+ would move to the higher rating of R18+. But the move, he said, would also mean allowing games to be sold in Australia that are banned because of their high levels of violence. ‘‘[This] needs careful scrutiny and public debate,’’ he said. ‘‘The Coalition government is very concerned that the draft guidelines currently being proposed by the Commonwealth would legalise games with high levels of graphic, frequent and gratuitous violence, including violence against civilians and police.’’

Mr Clark said the community should have a chance to discuss the draft guidelines — which have not been made public — and see what sort of games would be legalised. ‘‘The Victorian government will decide our position based on our assessment of whether the final proposal will adequately protect the community,’’ he said. Victoria’s position drew a rebuke from the federal government, which for many years has been frustrated by South Australia’s refusal to back change. ‘‘The public has been consulted extensively on this matter and overwhelmingly support the introduction of an adult classification for games,’’ Mr O’Connor told The Sunday Age. ‘‘About 60,000 submissions were received in the last consultation round, showing huge community support for the introduction of an adult computer game classification,’’ he said. ‘‘I await state and territory governments’ views on the draft guidelines and remain open to sensible suggestions consistent with community expectations and good public policy.’’

South Australia is no longer stridently against the reform and most other states also support change, but the position of the new New South Wales Liberal government is unclear. The Australian Christian Lobby remains a key opponent to the reform because it does not want games now banned, such as Mortal Kombat 9, available at all. Rob Ward, the lobby’s Victorian director, accused the Classification Board of being ‘‘asleep at the wheel’’ in rating some of the more violent games MA15+. ‘‘But that’s not a reason to create an R18+ category,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s a reason to clip them behind the ear.’’