Spectacle is something that is opened for an eye and attracts the eye, for example, a phenomenon, event, or a specific landscape. It is something that attracts people’s attention, a kind of staging, presentation, designed for many viewers. Spectacle is all that is interesting for looking at. In this sense, it may be a football match or racing of athletes, as well as stars in the sky and sunrise, flickering flames of candles and moody game sunbeams in a forest glade, or beloved eyes. In the art of architecture spectacle is any pretty place or building that is pleasant to look at, one that attracts the eyes.
Simulation is an imitation of a real thing, situation, or process. The process usually involves the imitation of some key characteristics or behavior of the selected physical or abstract system. It is also used to demonstrate the possible effects of certain actions. Usually, simulation is carried out when experiments on real systems are not possible due to their inaccessibility, hazards or high cost of such experiments (Rockwell and Mau 12). Hyper-Reality is a kind of reality which allows a person to see or feel those objects that do not actually exist. It is the phenomenon of simulation of reality, and the inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technologically advanced postmodern culture (Wilhelm Bruns and Erbe 1435-1444). If to speak about similar and different features of spectacle, simulation, and hyper-reality, spectacle concerns the reality itself, it is so-called beauty of the reality, simulation is an imitation of something real, while hyper-reality is the creation of an unreal or unexisting thing or process.
I have made a field trip to the A&W restaurant, which is famous among the fast-food restaurants. The restaurant serves a great variety of different fast food, such as hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, cheese curds, different beverages, and others. First of all, when you enter the restaurant, the first thing that attracts is the combination of a bright orange and brown colors, which is an example of a spectacle in the restaurant. It is a well-known fact that fast-food restaurants tend to use bright colors and loud energetic music inside so that to increase the circulation of clients inside. The A&W restaurant is not an exception, there is loud music inside, I could enjoy it while waiting to my order.
If to speak about the examples of simulation in the A&W restaurant, the brightest imitation is concerning the size of food and amount of drinks. I ordered a hamburger and a big glass of cola, the hamburger was packed in such a way that it seemed much bigger than it was while the glass of cola was full of ice. In such a case, the manager of the restorant uses less products obtaining more money. Secondly, extremely big windows create the impression that you are sitting not inside the fast-food restaurant, but on a picnic. Thirdly, the close placing of chairs and benches inside the restaurant creates the impression that all people surrounding you are your friends. Finally, as for hyper-reality I managed to notice in the restaurant, the atmosphere, furniture, music, and service resemble a luxurious restaurant, not a fast-food one, which encourages people to visit that place more often and spend their money.
Works cited
Rockwell, David and Bruce Mau. Spectacle. London: Phaidon, 2006. Print.
Wilhelm Bruns, F. and Heinz-H. Erbe. "Mixed Reality With Hyper-Bonds—A Means For Remote Labs". Control Engineering Practice 15.11 (2007): 1435-1444. Web.
