Day 042:
Postmodern writer Jean Baudrillard spoke of the symbol taking precedence or a more present existence than the symbolized. This occurrence is called the simulacrum. Our world is filled with second and third order representations, symbols and symbolized, in such a way that we sometimes get confused over which is which.
The rose, or flowers, in times where romantic love is celebrated, is one such example of a symbolic-symbolized. Second to the hallmark card, the rose is one of those things in the world whose value rests almost entirely in the symbolic.
On a normal day, a rose costs 80 - 100 PHP (2.00 USD) in your normal street-side flowershop. Holland Tulips or Designer Blooms fetch 145-185 PHP (3-4 USD) a stem. During Valentine's Day, outrageous as they already are, these prices go up 50-100% more. Poor young man, who must win the heart of his beloved through flowers, chocolates, acts of kindness, poetry and what not. He shall be broke... or broken hearted.
This is the symbolic exchange that Baudrillard speaks of. (Of course, a basic supply-demand explanation may also suffice, humor me.) A rose fetches its high price, not because of the cost of production, nor of the marginal utility. In truth, these flowers are one of the most useless things in the world. Its value rests in the fact that the world can no long separate the "staple" expressions of love (e.g. flowers, chocolates, poetry) from the reality of love itself. The symbol and the symbolized are momentarily interchangeable, such that flower-shops occasionally become quite literally merchants of love.
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