Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation is a non-fiction text. The definition of Simulacra is to never conceal the truth. Simulacra and Simulation is best known for talking about symbols, signs, and how they relate to contemporaneity. Jean Baudrillard says that simulacra involve "significations and symbolism of culture and media that construct perceived reality".
Simulacra and Simulation identifies three types of simulacra, it also identifies a certain period. Baudrillard believes that the lack of distinctions between reality and simulacra originates in a time of phenomena.
Baudrillard also talks about THREE things: 1) stages, 2) degrees, and 3) phenomena.
In the section entitled "stages," Baudrillard talks about faithful image/copy. In the second stage, he talks about the perversion of reality. In the third, he talks about the "profound reality." And in the fourth, he talks about "pure simulacrum."
In the section entitled "Degrees," Baudrillard talks about the first (pre-modern), second (modernity), and third orders (postmodernity).
In the section called "phenomena," Baudrillard talks about T.V., film, print, and the Internet, as well as exchange value, multinational capitalism, urbanization, and language and ideology.
In this essay, Baudrillard talked about three things in particular:-
1. SIMULACRA:- Simulacra is the thing which is imitated or copied. It is the product of Simulation.
2. SIMULATION:- Simulation is the process when a product or a thing is being copied to some other thing.
3. HYPERREAL:- In the concept of hyperreal the difference between the reality and the representation of reality is seen.
Furthermore, Baudrillard is of the view that there are four stages:-
1. SACRAMENTAL ORDER:- In the sacramental order, the true image or a thing is produced in the imitation. It includes the faithful copy of the reality.
2. ORDER OF MAGNIFIENCE:- In the order of magnifience, their is unfaithful reality which means image created is twice removed from reality.
3. ORDER OF SORCERY:- Baudrillard is of the view that in order of sorcery their is profound reality, that is the image created is thrice removed from the reality.
4. PURE SIMULACRA:- Here in this process, the imitation created is the 'hyperreal'. Hyperreal is the difference between the reality and the representation of the reality.
Also, he gives three degrees in the process of "Simulacra and Simulation":-
1. PRE-MODERN DEGREE:- The pre-modern degree involves the sacramental order and the order of magnifience.
2. MODERN DEGREE:- Under the modern degree, Baudrillard included the order of sorcery in which he discovered about the modern age in which he also talked about industrialization.
3. POST-MODERN DEGREE:- Under the post- modern degree, Baudrillard involved pure simulation and also the age in which Marxist capitalism fostered.
Moreover, Baudrillard provided us with FIVE phenomenas:-
1. CONTEMPORARY MEDIA:- Contemorary Media like TV, movies, print and the internet, blurs the distinction between essential products and those for which a desire is manufactured through commercial images.
2. EXCHANGE VALUE:- Exchange value means the worth of goods is determined by money rather than their practical usefulness, and even usefulness is measured and expressed in monetary terms to facilitate trading.
3. MULTINATIONAL CAPITALISM:- Multinational Capitalism disconnects the things we buy from the places, resources, and mrethods involved in making them, including the people and their cultural background.
4. URBANIZATION:- Urbanization shifts people away from nature, creating massive systems that prioritize productivity, leading to a sense of detachment and alienation from the natural world.
5. LANGUAGE AND IDEOLOGY:- Language and ideology interwine as powerful groups use language to establish and reinforce their domionance, often trying their influence to economic wealth.
