Baurillard Simulacra and Simulation (1983)

Another popular notion in postmodernism is that “everything and everyone is consumable ... in which there is no hidden depth beneath the surface, in which truth is another illusion” (Snipp-Walmsley in Waugh, 2006, p.412) an idea which we owe to Jean Baudrillard and his theory of simulations; his claim is that a contemporary society has replaced reality with symbols and signs. Baudrillard’s argument in his article Simulacra and Simulations (1983) is that the human experience is a simulation of reality and like Adorno, Baudrillard accepts the considerable influence centres on modern culture and media and hence constructs their own reality. Baudrillard states “the simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth – it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true” (Baudrillard, 1983) this example shows that he believes society is saturated with these constructs of society that they can be regarded meaningless, living in a media constructed world these images and symbols are impossible to detect a real ‘reality’. Baudrillard comments on four historic phases of the influential sign:

×          Truth: a basic reality that is faithfully represented.

×          Distorted truth/reality: a truth/reality in existence “a truth warped through representation” (Snipp - Walmsley in Waugh, 2006, p.413) who’s dissimilarity is unclear.

×          Deprived truth: the truth has disappeared yet we cling on to it through the process of representation.

×          No relationship between sign and reality: “there is no longer anything real to reflect” (Snipp-Walmsley in Waugh, 2006, p.413) and enters Baudrillard’s final phase the hyperreal.

 

Baudrillard’s notion of the hyperreal refers to the domination of images, symbols and signs “the image dominates ... The age of production has given way to the age of simulation, an age in which products are no longer made and then sold; they are sold before they exist” (Snipp-Walmsley in Waugh, 2006, p.413) this suggests that people now understand the world in a technologically advanced way but the consequence is “through advertising and the media, a desire is created for a product ... In the hyperreal world, the reality principle has been lost for good” (Snipp-Walmsley in Waugh, 2006, p.413) this is because there is an insinuation that we have already been culturally pre-coded.

In the extract Simulacra and Simulations (1983) with focus on hyperreal and imaginary Baudrillard chose to discuss the representation of a perfect alternative vision of reality in Walter Disney’s imaginary world, Disneyland. In agreement with this idea a Disney representative states,

“This special place ‘The Magic Kingdom’ ... is a world apart from the real, where a magical kaleidoscope of yesterday, today and tomorrow touches the hearts and minds of old and young alike. Here the sense of wonder that is often buried beneath the weight of everyday problems can bubble into fun and laughter” (Disney World Publishing, [n.d]).

This statement reinforces Adorno’s thought that cultural industries such as media productions such as Disney’s, promote a feeling of individual satisfaction but with varying outcomes; Adorno regards it with negative connotations while Disney regards it with elevated positive connotations. Baudrillard explains its successfulness is down to “[its] play on illusions and phantasms: Pirates, the Frontier, Future World, etc” (Baudrillard, 1983) what it explores is the authentic fake. The Disney Parks sustains the American traditions “all its values are exalted here ... of the American way of life, panegyric to American values, idealised transposition of a contradictory reality” (Baudrillard, 1983) which signifies a blur between reality and imaginary, this is the hyperreal, Disneyland attracts a wide audience whose imaginary presence make the outside of the park as real and that society is living in a sheltered reality via dominant images, reality has been consumed. This consumption is evident in Disneyland, Walt created an ‘ideological blanket’ to cover something else the point that Disneyland is real and that the “imaginary is neither true nor false” because Baudrillard questions “the false representation of reality... concealing the fact that the real is no longer real, and thus of saving the reality principle” (Baudrillard, 1983) and it is these such fabrications that have caused society to stop questioning and cease the discovery of such real truths.

Again it seems that powerful media influence in the world in which we live has been programmed by media reproductions and contemporary media, film, television, print and the internet; and it is these industries that shape and control our society into being, masking the truth of reality. 

Baudrillard, J. (1994)[1983] Simulacra and Simulation. Michigan: Michigan University Press.

Disney Publishing, [n.d] Walt Disney World. Walt Disney World Productions.

Snipp-Walmsley, C. (2006) Postmodernism. In Waugh, P. An Oxford Guide: Literary Theory and Criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.