dick - half-life

In filmic discourse, the equivalent for objet petit a would be what Žižek refers to as MacGuffin- a plot device that was explained by Alfred Hitchcock at Columbia University- as a device that George Lucas defined in the audio commentary of the DVD version of Star Wars, as „the main driving force in the movie, [...] an object of everybody’s search.²¹” Catherine Belsey cites Žižek and finds objet petit a as a synonymous notion to the Lacanian „Real.” The „Real” in Ubik is as ungraspable as the objet petit a, which observation opens up several possibilities about the real existences of both terms.

Namely, if Ubik is the Real²², we have quite a pessimistic interpretation concerning the existence of Ubik. As Lacan states in his Seminar XI, „The Real is impossible”, as it is outside the Symbolic Order, outside language, thus indefinable, so it can never be integrated into the Symbolic. As neither the characters nor anyone could grasp what The Real, or Ubik is, the characters instantly find themselves into an ontologically unstable world. This realization is supported by the ever-changing nature of the universe in Ubik.

mindezekután, kiváncsi lennék,hogyha valaki teljes önkontrollt kapna a 'Real'-ben, milyen élményekről tudna beszámolni....