Simulacra

Simulacra are representations that have no direct relation to the referent system. In its original meaning, the Latin word simulacrum means “likeness” and “similarity.” A simulacrum is a representation of an object or a person that may or may not exist. For example, a painting of a dragon and the statue of Venus de Milo are both simulacra. The term was made popular by French postmodernist Jean Baudrillard, who argued that simulacra in hyperreality have come to replace real objects and people in reality. Baudrillard used the term to explain the pervasiveness and primacy of images in a media-saturated consumer society. The concept has been applied in studies of media, film, arts, and culture in general.

Baudrillard's earliest writings were grounded in the philosophy of Karl Marx, but he later criticized Marxist thought for emphasizing the materialist nature of the social world. For example, in his essay “For a Critique of the Political Economy of Sign,” he critiqued Marx for failing to see the use value and exchange value of symbols. In Marxist thought, a basic-necessity good like a loaf of bread has a use value and an exchange value. The use value is the need to reduce hunger; the exchange value is the cost to buy a loaf of bread. To Baudrillard, the use value (which he called symbolic exchange) and the exchange value of signs (which he called sign value) in a consumer society work in different ways. For example, an advertisement of designer perfume often shows a glamorous woman in a fancy setting. The images signify to consumers that perfume brings joy, love, romance, and sex. Baudrillard believed that the symbols (the images of a glamorous woman, the perfume, and so on) determine the sign value, which is an abstract, fetishized social relation (such as romantic/sexual attraction). The images created the need of use, in this case the need to be in a romantic/sexual relationship.

Baudrillard's interests in the primacy of images in a consumer society are also reflected in his work Simulacra and Simulation (1994). He asserts that there are four different types of simulacra, each corresponding to a historical period. The first kind is a faithful representation of “reality.” Portraits and sculptures before the Industrial Revolution were examples of these simulacra. Artists documented a person, an object, or a landscape as closely as possible. A good artist was one who could reproduce reality in the most precise way.

The second kind is associated with mass-produced images in the Industrial Revolution era and with the advancement of technologies such as photography. To Baudrillard, a photograph may hint at the existence of reality, but it shows only part of the reality. For example, family portraits taken in the late 19th century often showed a well-dressed, middle-class family. These portraits, however, failed to show the preparation the family had to undertake before the photograph was taken. Nevertheless, the [Page 337]image in the photograph has come to represent the family.

French postmodernist Jean Baudrillard wrote about simulacra used to market items like designer perfume. He stated that the symbols used, such as images of a glamorous woman using perfume, determined the sign value, which is an abstract ideal such as a romantic involvement, and that the images created the belief that one needed to use the product to obtain the relationship.

(http://Photos.com)

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