How valid are Baudrillards ideas of simulation and hyperreality to understanding the media?

Baudrillard’s theory – Baudrillard believed that society had become so saturated with these simulacra and our lives so saturated with the constructs of society that all meaning was becoming meaningless by being infinitely mutable; he called this phenomenon the “precession of simulacra”.

Hyperreality – in semiotics and postmodernism, is an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced postmodern societies. Hyperreality is seen as a condition in which what is real and what is fiction are seamlessly blended together so that there is no clear distinction between where one ends and the other begins. It allows the co-mingling of physical reality with virtual reality (VR) and human intelligence with artificial intelligence (AI).

Simulacra – are copies that depict things that either had no reality to begin with, or that no longer have an original. Simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time.

The main argument being put forth by Baudrillard is that nothing in our culture is “real” in the true sense of the word. Everything that we consider real is simply a “simulacrum” which is basically just a representation or copy where the original no longer exists, like a statue of a person or picture.

These link to the CSP’s for example, Teen Vogue. The website shares stories of celebrities however the stories can be altered in positive and negative ways. The story they present isn’t the actual story. This also happens with the posts they put out on their Instagram and twitter pages. Teen vogue is aimed at teenage girls from age 12-17. Link to specific story “Tik Tok’s Charli D’Amelio on Fame, Scandal, and Surviving the Internet”

Similarly, Tomb Raider Anniversary can also link to Baudrillard’s theory. The game depicts a fake world which people indulge themselves in and treat it as if it is real. The game is also made to attract male players through the use of oversexualising the character even though it is nothing more than pixels on a screen.

How valid are Baudrillard’s ideas of simulation and hyperreality to understanding the media? (Refer to Sims Freeplay and Teen Vogue)

Hyperreality, in semiotics and postmodernism, is an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced postmodern societies

Baudrillard believed that society had become so saturated with these simulacra and our lives so saturated with the constructs of society that all meaning was becoming meaningless by being infinitely mutable; he called this phenomenon the “precession of simulacra”

SIMULACRUM (simulacra): Something that replaces reality with its representation. Jean Baudrillard in “The Precession of Simulacra” defines this term as follows: “Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being, or a substance