made posthuman through the removal of their own bodily autonomy . Texts use community settings , manipulation of past trauma , and euphemisms to make these characters deem the worlds they find themselves in as preferable to the alternatives , even when they can intellectually understand the inequality and darkness of their scenario .
In an examination of how texts create these partially hegemonic societies , it is useful to consider the work of Baudrillard . In Simulations , Baudrillard uses the concept of Disneyland to suggest that , in marketing certain worlds and attractions in our society as ‘ fake ,’ we distract from the fact that all of society is a construction , subtly reinforcing the notion that the rest of society must be real , and deterring us from questioning the social structures which surround us . 31 Never Let Me Go ’ s Hailsham school and Riverdale ’ s The Farm — where characters go to find a family and are subtly manipulated into consenting to organ donation surgery — function in much the same way as Baudrillard ’ s Disneyland : providing characters with an alternative to the problems of the ‘ real world ’ and blinding them to the darker goings-on of these lands themselves .
A World Within a World
I now wish to return to the construction of the worlds in which these characters reside : Hailsham School and The Farm . As aforementioned , Baudrillard discusses the security found in ‘ hyper-real ’ yet ‘ imaginary ’ worlds . 32 It is easy to see how this concept can be applied to Riverdale ’ s The Farm . The characters most likely to be found at The Farm are those who have experienced unprecedented trauma and instability , seeking the community feel that the Farm claims to provide . 33 Because of these traumatic backgrounds and their young , impressionable ages , the characters who join The Farm seek guidance from stable adult figures and an escape from their ‘ real worlds ’ in this ‘ imaginary ’ one .
The ability to relax in the environment provided by The Farm is a crucial part of the manipulation required to get characters to consent to the posthuman states they are placed in . Though Betty Cooper is presented as the sole character able to understand the dangers of The Farm in Riverdale ’ s third season , it becomes clear that her traumatic experiences make her
31
Jean Baudrillard . Simulations ( New York : Semiotext ( e ) Inc , 1983 ), 25
32
Ibid , 25 , 23-26
33
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa , ‘ Season 1 , Episode 6 : Faster , Pussycats ! Kill ! Kill !’ Riverdale ( Los Angeles , USA : Netflix , 2017- ); ‘ Season 1 , Episode 1 : The River ’ s Edge ’; ‘ Season 1 , Episode 12 : ‘ Anatomy of a Murder ’; ‘ Season 4 , Episode 9 : Tangerine ’; ‘ Season 2 , Episode 8 : House of the Devil .’