Literary Theory

Jean Baudrillard (1929-): French, Marxist student radical background; known for Simulations (1981), anticipator of cyberculture, influence on The Matrix series of films, among many others.

The difference between image and reality has collapsed (in the wake of Western consumer capitalism, media culture, and science). In fact, the image is preferred over the reality. (Consider the film American Beauty). Is this because there is no ultimate authenticity/truth/god/logos, and the simulacra (singular: simulacrum) keep this knowledge at bay via substitution (although we must never let the masses know this; we must multiply the simulacra to hide the ultimate absence of presence)?

Difference between representation and simulation: the former believes in the relation between the sign and the signified (if imperfect), the latter signifies the absence of “reality.”

Our real needs are buried underneath marketing hype; our desires are now hyperreal (get it?). We are perpetually disappointed at the failure of reality to live up to images (rather than the failure of images to capture reality). Life should imitate art, we think. (Can you detect the Marxian critique of capitalism here?)

Are you really living your life, or acting in the movie of your “life” (like The Truman Show)? Who isn’t simulating who they are? Aren’t we all performing media-created roles (well, maybe not “us”)? Are you really insane and only pretending to be sane . . . or smart or female or straight? [This line of thinking will take us right into gender studies, specifically the idea of performativity.]

Simulacra in the United States: Disney World, Las Vegas, Colonial Williamsburg, the inevitable future Jurassic Park . . . [suggestions of it in any “tourist trap”; e.g., Salem, Massachusetts, downtown Holland?]. Ever gone to the Grand Canyon and watched the Imax video of it? What is the purpose of preserving “treasures” of historical significance in museums (e.g., the Mona Lisa). What do people stand in line to see it? Why do people climb Mt. Everest (as if anyone is still impressed)?