Oscar Wilde a predecessor of modern social media practices : performativity, simulation and consumerism

Abstract

Modern technology and social media practices seemingly commodify the modern subject, turning his life into an endless cycle of performativity. Oscar Wilde, a self-declared aesthete back in the 1880’s, launched himself into a conference tour in America, to agglomerate a public, make himself into a celebrity by portraying a caricature based on himself (Bunthorne from the play cowritten by Gilbert and Sullivan). The simulation and performativity he was subject of, even with the very restricted media at the time, show that the modern practices were pre-existent in some sorts, and are just embedded in a capitalistic context, and not woven or forced by technology. People use whatever is available to perform; they create an audience, a stage, and write a role for themselves, whether the tools are advanced or not. They simulate the character that they think they want to be, or that will attract societal attention. The cycle of performativity has therefore always been at play. I will refer to Baudrillard’s simulacra and simulation theory, and Austin and Butler’s performativity theories among others, to link Oscar Wilde as a predecessor of online social media performativity, mostly by relating his endeavors to modern practices embedded in online performativity, simulation and consumerism. In addition, I have written, directed and produced a short movie that visualizes the mentioned concepts: “Mimesis”.