Has True Romance Disappeared in Consumer Society ? A Morinian and Baudrillardian Reflection of the Acute Crisis of Simulation
constant growth and expansion had to find a way to survive ( Messier 25 ). According to Morin , Baudrillard , and other post-Marxist theorists , marketers developed a calculated strategy to promote incessant and frivolous consumption in order to keep the wheels of the financial system spinning at all times . Taking advantage of modern technology , Morin and Baudrillard assert that transnational corporations would begin to sell prepackaged , metonymical pieces of the good ( s ) life 1 reflecting a purely symbolic universe that has never truly existed anywhere with the exception of a digital screen . Morin and Baudrillard maintain that celebrities are an important cog in a larger system of post-Marxist exploitation , because stars enable the “ consumer citizen ” to breathe life into these utopian fantasies that have been carefully manufactured for his or her immediate consumption ( Baudrillard Le Système des objets 218 ).
In Chapter 1 of The Stars , Morin argues “ the star plays an essential role [ ... ] in the capitalist atmosphere ” ( 2 ). Describing celebrities as an ideological archetype whose function is to encourage unbridled consumption of a plethora of consumer goods with a symbolic value that far outweighs their practical usage , Morin declares , “ Movie stars rule over radio and television alike [ ... ] The stars endorse everything : toilet articles , makeup , refrigerators , beauty contests [ ... ] their private life is public ; their public life , publicity . The stars play a social and moral role as well ” ( 4 ). For the philosopher , the Hollywood star system is part and parcel of a new repressive social order that indoctrinates purchaser citizens 2 to rein-
1 This expression was coined by Keith Moser in Chapter 3 of J . M . G . Le Clézio : A Concerned Citizen of the Global Village ( 2012 ).
2 Some researchers prefer the term “ purchaser citizen ” instead of “ consumer citizen .” I am using these expressions interchangeably . For a brief historical overview regarding how post-Marxist soci-
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