Illustrate The Concept Of Simulacrum

Uncertainty of what seemed the clear distinction between the simulated and the real: No clear line between the artificial and the real

After entering a simulation pod himself and loading the simulation, Wesley finds himself in a picture perfect, pre-war town. It's just like the stories he'd been told as a kid. High-rising buildings, cars whiz zing about vegetation growing everywhere, it was paradise. He finds and talks to Georgia, Dr. Barker's alter-ego within the simulation, who asks Wesley to free her by turning off the system from within. Upon doing so, she betrays Wesley and locks him into the system, forcing him to forever be a slave in the simulation. Wesley runs towards the light as the town slowly gets deconstructed all around him and he lies down, forever being tormented by the emptiness of this virtual realm. But when all hope seems lost, Wesley suddenly awakens in the real world, as X is seen overlooking him. X explains how he

In post-modern thought, the shift from grand narrative and universal truth to more local simplistic truth is very important. The shift instils a sense realism, when engaging in post-modern thought. In contrast Baudrillard (1991) coined the phrase ‘hyperreality’ which the inability of distinguish between simulation and reality. This is a stark contrast to the sense of realism that post-modern thought engages in. However, this does present an avenue in which to critique the culture of today. One show titled Ricky & Morty, created by Dan Harmon & Justin Rowland engage in this sort of critique. Dan Harmon & Justin Rowland use philosophy as a vehicle to drive their meta-narratives, critiquing the foundation of life through various different characters. They pay homage to Baudrillard and his work Simulacra and Science Fiction (1991) in the episode ‘Mortynight Run’. In this episode Morty plays the game ‘ROY’, in which he puts on a Virtual

This theory states that in a postmodern reality, we have become so reliant on models and maps that we have lost contact with the real world that came before the map. Reality itself has now started to simply copy the model. The definition of simulacra is when something replaces the reality with its representation. Baudrillard claims that the human experience is only a simulation of reality as our society has replaced reality with symbols and signs. In this context, simulation is where something is attempting to be as real as possible when something is trying to create a fake reality. This can be seen in situations such as 3D movies as they are trying to be hyper realistic. Simulacra, on the other hand, involved replacing the original with something that doesn’t seem as real, wanting the audience to identify the “fakeness” of a situation. It is designed to create a sense that it is not

More than just an ordinary movie, ‘The Matrix’ is a representation of many philosophical ideas. Through the movie, the character especially Neo and Morpheus gave us the hints to all this ideas.

For centuries, a few questions have been driving humanity to find answers. Why are we here? What are we supposed to do with our lives? No one really knows. Life will be one of the greatest mysteries for all of time. We may never know the answers to the questions that have been around since the beginning of time. What if the Matrix is real and we are actually in a virtual simulation created by AI’s?

The Matrix is a science fiction film, written and directed by The Wachowskis. Keanu Reeves plays “Neo”, who lives a double life as a hacker. He starts receiving confusing messages on his computer monitor, so Neo begins to search for Morpheus who he believes is responsible for the messages. Neo eventually finds Morpheus, and is then told that in actuality his so called reality is very different from what he, and most other people, perceives it to be. Morpheus gives Neo a choice to take either the “blue pill” or the “red pill”. If he chooses to take the blue pill, the the story ends and it will be as if the conversation never happened. If he chooses to take the red pill then Neo will be exposed to the painful truth. Neo chooses the red pill and

The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction and action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. This film establishes as a dystopian fiction because the humans are in a computer generated world were the electronics control them. The dark lighting of the film makes it look like an unfriendly and unhealthy lifestyle. The music sets different scenes in complicated ways. People are controlled through machines from a life that is acting as a computer generated human. They used humans as a form of energy to produce a different life form.

A number of media texts have changed and adapted original experiences to the point that “reality” is only identified when it is duplicated in simulation. Truth and reality are explained to the point that today’s culture are no longer about to tell the difference between reality and fantasy. Baudrillard refers to the blur between mediated experience and reality as “hyper-reality.” Hyper-reality is the outcome of systematic simulation, a process in which symbols are increasingly applied to replace genuine objects and experiences. Icons or signs are substitutes as simplified and clearer simulations of reality. Easily understandable and detectable signs cover and conclusively reinstate the actual thing or experience, becoming more “real” than reality itself. Therefore, hyperreality is a strong blur between appearance and reality. Stephen Best and Douglas Kellner suggest there are two types of hyperreality; ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ (Mason, 2007: 151).

While the copy is seen second to the model - the original – only imitating it, simulacrum destroys this hierarchy entirely (Camille 1996:33). The copy is related to the original, it is based on something which exists, whereas the simulacrum is like the original, but it’s not (Camille 1996:32). Although we recognise it as realistic it bears little resemblance to reality and the physical world in which we live (Camille 1996:32).

However, to simply define and discuss Baudrillard’s notion of simulation and hyperreality doesn’t succeed in the task of analysis. In order to successfully analyse this specific element of Baudrillard’s many theories, it is necessary to look at the strengths and the weaknesses of the case that he presents.

The first stage is the “reflection of basic reality” which suggests that the representation refers to a deeper meaning or reflecting the meaning of the original, in this case it is the original photograph taken, figure 1, by Alberto Korda (Baudrillard 1988: 170). The second stage is the masking and perversion of basic reality, meaning that the image itself has become a transformation of the image in itself, figure 2, Jim Fitzpatrick’s represented image of Che Guevara (Baudrillard 1988: 170). The third stage is the masking of the absence of basic reality, meaning that the image has taken on its own transformation, thus moving away from the original concept, for example the mass produced T-shirt or mugs with the image of Che Guevara. The third stage does not grasp the reality it belongs to and Baudrillard (1988: 170) refers to this stage as the simulation. The fourth and the last stage of Baudrillard orders of simulacra is the final stage of simulation, this is the stage that the image has become too distant from its origin and that it bears no resemblance to the original and has become a new reality or “Hyper-Reality” (Baudrillard 1988: 170). The fourth stage can be noted in figure 3, where each meme of Che Guevara has its own meaning and new

Simulation:With the advent of ‘realistic’ media (photography, film, sound recording, TV, digital media) it has also come to refer to an audio- visual experience that artfully mimics but otherwise has no connection with the reality it presents. It is the notion of a kind of copy which is not merely indistinguishable from what it copies, but in which the very distinction between copy and original disappears. Simulation threatens the difference between the true and the false, the real and the imaginary. Simulating is not pretending. It is replacing the reality

Two important quotes that Baudrillard said are: “Hell of simulation, which is no longer one of torture, but of subtle, maleficent, elusive twisting of meaning...” / “it is dangerous to unmask images, since they dissimulate the fact that there is nothing behind

“When we say that something is original … we are referring to the aspect of what can be called authenticity or genuineness, that which is unique not because it is necessarily different in topic or technique, but because it embodies one person’s experience with deep particularity.” This statement, made by the poet Jane Hirshfield, has provoked a reevaluation of my ideas of an authentic work of art, especially within the museum. Authenticity has some definite, and some more vague definitions. In the following paper, I plan to explore what aspects of the museum provide the visitor with an authentic experience, allowing them to access something authentic. Three institutions will be examined: Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library (Winterthur), the Barnes Foundation, and Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens (PMG); each institution provides the visitor with a different type of experience, some more authentic than others.