Pure Sorcery

“To dissimulate is to pretend to have what one has. To simulate is to feign to have what one doesn’t have. One implies a presence, the other an absence.” (389)

In todays class we discussed Buadrillards main ideas, specifically the precession of simulacra and the desert of the real. Immediately following class I sat at a study table with friends who had been discussing the outrageous photoshopping of two Kendal Jenner and Gigi Hadid in the latest issue of W magazine. Kendal and Gigi are two of the worlds most famous young models in todays day and age, and W magazine wanted them to be featured in their tenth anniversary special edition. As soon as the issues were released people quickly jumped on the fact that the two models had been edited to the point where they no longer had knees. There was enough controversy for a spokes person for the magazine to come out with the following statement: “The images of Kendall and Gigi are part of a project by artists Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin, who are known for their deliberate use of digital technology, combining distortions with makeup and prosthetics.”

Here we see a perfect example of the "desert of the real." Both models emulate societies idea of beauty. The tampering with this seemingly natural, perfect beauty can call into question the possibility of simulation, or the possibility of feigning to have beauty that one doesn't actually have. If Buadrillard had to comment on current heated altercations against the magazine, he would most likely note that the edited photographs mask and denature reality. Then again, the two models are pictured with the total absence of knees....sorcery? Maybe these photographs also mask the absence of reality. I mean...what human doesn't have knees?