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As an anomaly on the market of military shooters of the 21st century, Spec Ops: The Line entails a journey of undetermined realities and modern warfare consequences. In this study, the narrative is analyzed from the perspective of Jean Baudrillard’s idea that simulations have replaced our conception of reality. Both the protagonist and the player of Spec Ops will unavoidably descend into a state of the hyperreal. They experience multiple possible realities within the game narrative and end up unable to comprehend what has transpired. The hyperreal is defined as the state in which it is impossible to discern reality from simulation. The simulation of reality has proliferated itself into being the reality, and the original has been lost. The excessive use of violence, direct approach of the player through a break with the 4th wall and a deceitful narrator contribute to this loss of reality within the game. Although the game represents simulacra, being a simulation in itself, the object of study is the coexisting state of hyperreal shared between protagonist and player when comprehending events in the game. In the end, neither part can understand or discern with any certainty what transpired within the game. / <p>Grade: B</p>

This thesis forms a sociological investigation of the ‘hipster’ subculture that has grown in importance in recent years. Using the methodology of semiotic analysis, it examines the trends and themes shown by the images that hipsters post on the microblogging website Tumblr, as well as analysing hipster journalism, texts and companies. This communication is conceptualised with reference to Jean Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality in order to show that hipsters communicate in a way that distorts the perception of real space and results in the abstraction of the meaning of ideas like “global” and “local”. It also explores the importance of secret knowledge in a community that manages to be both secretive and extremely open, comparing this example with the historical case of the Beat Generation, who hipsters have adopted as their progenitors, and discusses how their influence drives the hipster to view the world as a literary text to be re-read and re-interpreted.

This thesis is designed as a comprehensive analysis of the advertising discourse within some pre-set constrains. Specifically, the main area of interest is the realm of American print advertising after 1945. Within these limits, advertising is understood as a mode of language, the chief semantic unit of which is a form of Barthesian myth, a superstructure divorced from reality that supersedes de Saussure's semiotics of the sign. The bulk of this thesis is then a diachronic analysis of the development of these myths and their role as both mirrors and catalysts of a whole range of stereotypes, value hierarchies or fixed ideas firmly embedded within American collective consciousness. The primary materials for this analysis are then various specimen of the advertisements themselves, carefully selected because of their representativeness, influence or significance within the advertising realm. The main theoretical framework rests on Marx's understanding of the commodity as a certain type of fetish, Barthes's description of the structure and social function of the myth, Baudrillard's and Debord's theories on such notions as the society of spectacle, the reign of simulacra and hyperreality, Benjamin's understanding of the uniqueness of representation and its aura and finally McLuhan's detailed accounts of...

Using figures from the popular culture program The Bachelor in a large-scale tapestry-style weaving, I address the drive to create idealized simulations in order to better understand one’s own reality and identity. Natural dye and traditional weaving processes in combination with digital weaving technology allow me to literally integrate the juxtaposition of analog and digital elements which defines a woven image. Dye work and pattern allow for large gestural drawing marks while individual threads overlap to create literal pixelized imagery. I examine the act of weaving as the creation of screens through which one can see, hide, or obscure. I similarly question the role of the observer of a false reality and examine the choice to participate in, construct, or re-create a simulation.

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This study focuses on Black Metal and Death Metal music as complimentary forms of commodified evil, which, in contrast to most other forms of commodified evil, provide an alternative form of modern escapism. In particular, it demonstrates that in glorifying evil their respective natures and essences effectively suggest to us that the ability to overcome our problems, and cope with the world's atrocities, lies not in the vain hope that justice will prevail, but rather, in embracing evil and actively cultivating a desensitizing ethos of utter indifference to the plight and suffering of others. In addition, because Black Metal and Death Metal have both generated their own distinct sub-cultures, which are predominantly populated by marginalized youths, this study simultaneous begs the question: What is it that motivates them to produce and/or endorse forms of music, and thereby become members of sub-cultures, which ostensibly promote such a negative world view? Consequently, it also demonstrates some of the important ways in which they can serve to help their proponents regain a sense of power and control over their lives. It then concludes by looking at Black Metal and Death Metal's (potential) social effects - both negative and positive.

This paper presents new concepts in the use of infinite and infinitesimal numbers in real analysis. theory is based upon the hyperreal number system developed by Abraham Robinson in the 1960's in his invention of "nonstandard analysis". paper begins with a short exposition of the construction of the hyperreal nU1l1ber system and the fundamental results of nonstandard analysis which are used throughout the paper. The new theory which is built upon this foundation organizes the set hyperreal numbers through structures which on an infinite base logarithm. Several new relations are introduced whose properties enable the simplification of calculations involving infinite and infinitesimal The paper explores two areas of application of these results to standard problems in elementary calculus. The first is to the evaluation of limits which assume indeterminate forms. The second is to the determination of convergence of infinite series. Both applications provide methods which greatly reduce the amount of con1putation necessary in many situations. / Master of Science

The importance of the aura, the metaphysical element that gives art, artifacts, and other objects of cultural heritage their authenticity, has been heavily contemplated ever since the publication of Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." This thesis strives to add to this conversation and expand upon it by delving into the emergence of additive manufacturing, or what is more commonly known as 3D printing, and its relation to museums and other institutions that comprise the public humanities. This technology challenges the auratic properties of an exhibit by first digitizing it onto a computer by scanning it and then uploading this data to a 3D printer, which then proceeds to replicate the scanned exhibit down to incredibly fine details. For museums the possibility that 3D printed replicas, increasingly able to be indistinguishable from the original and capable of being produced in great numbers at ease, replacing their auratic exhibits is a very real possibility to consider. This thesis argues that some museums are responding by despatializing their exhibitions in order to uphold their auratic exhibits, while others are offsetting the potential loss by turning their exhibitions into tactile, multisensory experiences. Either option, which are not mutually exclusive, transforms the traditional museum. This thesis ultimately concludes that it's possible to reconcile the auratic exhibit with the 3D printed replica should these institutions properly adapt. Doing so will allow them to continue fulfilling their mission statements to preserve and promote the auratic exhibits well into the future. / Master of Arts

The focus of this essay is Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. My central claim is that a theme of belonging underpins the novel and is recurrent in a number of different ways. In my reading, I utilise Jean Baudrillard’s postmodern critical concepts to produce this interpretation. I argue that the theme of belonging can be interpreted using Baudrillard’s loss of the real and hyperreal concepts. The usefulness of these concepts is primarily based on the element of clones and cloning in the narrative. Baudrillard’s theories deal with signs and images that do not correspond with the realities that they are meant to represent, mirroring the predicament of the Hailsham students in Never Let Me Go. My essay presents three main areas of discussion in relation to the theme of belonging. Firstly, Hailsham and the students are examined using the loss of the real/hyperreal concepts. The second area deals with belongings as a recurrent motif. In my reading, the dual meaning of the word belonging is an important factor in identifying the theme. This particular discussion deals also with ownership. The final area of discussion revolves around the issue of genre, or rather genres. The novel’s mixture of character drama and science-fiction dystopia is discussed in relation to the loss of the real/hyperreal. / Uppsatsens fokus är Kazuo Ishiguros Never Let Me Go. Min huvudtes är att det finns ett tema av tillhörighet som utmärker romanen. I min läsning applicerar jag Jean Baudrillards postmoderna kritiska begrepp i tolkningen av texten. I uppsatsen argumenterar jag att temat av tillhörighet kan tolkas med hjälp Baudrillards begrepp förlust av verkligheten samt hyperverkligheten. Användbarheten av dessa begrepp bygger på förekomsten av kloner och kloning i texten. Baudrillards teorier handlar om tecken och bilder som ej motsvarar verkligheten på ett tydligt sätt, och denna brist på korrespondens mellan verklighet och representation avspeglar Hailsham-elevernas situation i Never Let Me Go. Min uppsats har tre huvuddiskussioner i förhållande till temat tillhörighet. För det första, undersöks Hailsham och eleverna med med hjälp av begreppen förlust av verkligheten/hyperverkligheten. Andra diskussionsområden handlar om tillhörighet/er som återkommande tema. I min läsning, är det faktum att ordet tillhörighet har två definitioner en viktig aspekt när man ska identifiera temat. Denna diskussion handlar också om äganderätt. Den sista diskussionen handlar om romanens genre, eller genrer. Även romanens blandning av karaktärsdrama och science-fictiondystopi diskuteras i förhållande till Baudrillards begrepp förlust av verkligheten/hyperverkligheten.