Coke … It’s the Real Thing

 
by Justin Kirkwood

A power-up from Bad Dudes – 1988 arcade version

Bad Dudes coke power-up screen shot

A power-up from Bad Dudes – 1990 NES version

Witness a can of Coca-Cola as it passes through various stages of being:

Stage One: The can exists in physical reality.

A can of Coca-Cola

Stage Two: The can becomes a power up for the 1988 32-bit arcade game,Bad Dudes.

Blown-up Coke can from the arcade version of Bad Dudes

Stage Three: The can becomes a power up for the 1990 8-bit NES version of the 32-bit arcade game, Bad Dudes.

Blown-up can of Coke from the NES version of Bad Dudes

Stage Four: The 8-bit degenerative form of the can is superimposed over the original.

Coca-Cola pataphor

This is a physical manifestation of a pataphor – essentially an extention of a metaphor in which the degree of separation from reality is taken a step further.

An example of a pataphor from the Wikipedia entry on ‘Pataphysics:

Non-figurative
Tom and Alice stood side by side in the lunch line.

Metaphor
Tom and Alice stood side by side in the lunch line, two pieces on a chessboard.

Pataphor
Tom took a step closer to Alice and made a date for Friday night, checkmating. Rudy was furious at losing to Margaret so easily and dumped the board on the rose-colored quilt, stomping downstairs.

Thus, the pataphor has created a world where the chessboard exists, including the characters who live in that world, entirely abandoning the original context.

The final iteration of the soda can in this fascinating simulacrum loop is the work of Atlanta-based artist Ashley Anderson. I came across the image in his photostream a couple of months ago, and wasn’t sure how to wrap my head around it intellectually until I started reading Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation. I’m still not sure I’ve got it entirely right, but it’s an adventurous concept, nonetheless.

I dare you to disagree.

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"Change the simile, change real world. Some similes are gateways that allow you to plunge into entirely separate worlds." | Creator Website

Pataphor (Book by Dutch artist Hidde van Schie)

Submission: Portrait of Monsieur Ubu by Nuncio Casanova