Blog Post 04/29

Reading Summary

In this reading, Baudrillard addresses the nature of simulations in our reality. Simulations are described not as referential pieces of some past whole, but as something in and of itself. Therefore “the age of simulation begins with the liquidation of all referentials.” A simulation works by substituting signs and signals from the past real into the new real. A simulation is a process to deter every real operation by its double. A simulation’s hyperreality should make you feel as if you are immersed in the real rather than the fictional. A simulation will make you forget your past reality.

Outside Example

This has already been mentioned in class, but this reading really reminded me of the movie, The Truman Show. This film centers around a man who is constantly being observed by hidden cameras. He begins to realize that his entire life is a part of a reality TV show. The world he lives in is just a huge TV set thus his entire reality has been simulated without him being aware for the first half of it.

Reading Connection

This film relates to the reading considering all of Truman’s perceived reality was just a simulation. Baudrillard uses Disneyland as an example of a simulated reality because once you enter, you lose sight of any other reality before you and begin to see Disneyland as the new real. This was true for Truman as well. He has never known anything except for the simulated universe he occupies, so his reality is both real and fantastical. Although he was unaware that his reality was technically fantastical, it felt completely real to him until he learned the truth. His reality was built for him in a simulated town by television show producers and “the creator” who we end up seeing at the end of the film. His reality was an operational double of what his real life could have been outside of a TV set.