Voyage in Noise: Warren Ellis and the Demise of Western Civilization Highlight

the sloppy reality of a hamburger doesn’t matter. The plastic model shown in commercials is what’s primary. It’s designed to represent a hamburger and to look delicious, even if it’s actually a plastic concoction that might kill you to eat. The “actual” hamburger might look unappealing, or even barely edible. But that’s not really what we’re buying. We’re buying the illusion, the idea that we’re participating in those images of smiling people gobbling a luscious, perfect burger – even if what we’re actually getting is a cheap action figure that looks little like the character it theoretically represents.