The “Ideal” Life in Cyberspace in Novel Kerumunan Terakhir

Abstract

This paper elucidates ‘ideal life’ issue which is undergone by characters in Okky Madasari’s Kerumunan Terakhir (The Last Crowd), which takes two different settings, which are in the digital and the real world. This issue is based on the occurring phenomenon in the novel, where the characters are fond of using social media. It is related to the people who is known as the ‘shy’ people in their daily lives and yet ‘brave’ when it comes to using social media. This becomes the question as to what that triggers the characters to act differently in both worlds and how ideal life is constructed by the characters in the novel. First, researcher determines the simulation process, and then determines the simulacra. Media presents fake space and imitation space which causes a picture of reality to become ‘unreal’. The study shows that technology has become alternative in removing and rewriting the life structure of the characters in the novel to become a simulational place as an image of escape; which is the ideal life and power display as well as truth clarification. Kerumunan Terakhir criticizes the cyber world phenomenon, as it is described as a ‘double-edged sword’. It means that the digital world provides comfort and freedom, but the freedom is bent by confining rules which control the life of the digital world itself.

Keywords

• hyperreality
• simulation
• simulacra
• postmodern
• cyberspace