Thanks to Ken Rufo...

Not going to lie, when I first started to dive into Baudrillard, I was a little bit confused by his thoughts on simulation in general. But, I will admit that reading Ken Rufo’s post and hearing it explained again in class, it has become quite clear. I feel like I have a better grasp on Baudrillard’s ideas of simulation, simulacra, and the hyper-real and the distinctions between them.

Disney is probably the best way to explain something to me; I can relate to Disney and understand it in terms of a bigger picture, such as Baudrillard. Rufo remarks that Disneyland is a representation of other things. Take Epcot for example. The sites in Epcot are recreated to imitate something else. The ride “It’s a Small World” it meant to replicate a variety of countries around the world and give visitors an accurate sense of each country’s culture and what special characteristics it may or may not possess. Sure, Disney is pretty good at fabricating a thing or two, specifically the people that are seen in “It’s a Small World” and the set that the people live in within the ride. The tricky thing about that fabrication, however, is that people make actually believe what Disney is representing because they may not know anything different. Rufo refers to this attempt to make visitors believe something that may not be exactly accurate as fake.

Disneyland is a simulation, and with simulation there is no secure reference or connection to reality. Instead, simulation stands in for reality, then hides the absence of reality, produces its own reality, and finally reaches a fractal stage in which simulation no longer needs models. Take another one of Rufo’s examples: money. He brings up the point that a credit or debit card is in fact a simulation of actual money. In today’s society, I would have to say that one of the major methods of payment when purchasing anything is with a piece of plastic. Whether it is in a store or online, people resort to credit or debit cards so as not to pay for items up front. It’s basically like we have money, or is it? Is it just that credit cards are a symbol for fake money that may or may not be actually available? In this sense, credit cards are simulating a representation of reality. The funds act as the hyper-real as they are mediated through simulation.

Mr. Rufo, thank you! I greatly appreciate your insights on Baudrillard and furthermore putting it in terms that I can comprehend.

Gracias un otra vez!
Liz