Compare Baudrillard's Simulacra And Simulation

Something that I felt was very insightful was Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation, which analysees how we experience reality through signs and symbols and that because we use signs and symbols so heavily, our experience in life can be viewed as a simulation of reality. [Baudrillard, 1981]. In the Oxford English Dictionary, simulation is defined as "the action or practice of simulating, with an intent to deceive." In comparison simulacrum is defined as "a material image, made as a representation of some deity, person, or thing," as "something having merely the form or appearance of a certain thing, without possessing its substance or proper qualities." Where as a simulacrum is similar in that it bears a resemblance to that it imitates, a simularcrum is an entity in itself. …show more content…
[Sandoz, 2003]. It is the arrival at where signs and reality break down. I feel this perfectly pins down Tyler Durden. Where he is a simulation of the Narrator's imagination, he is a simulacrum that is a powerful entity all on it's own, thinking and deciding for itself and having a great influence on the Narrator, and as time goes on reduces the orginial creator to become powerless and unable to control Durden. He becomes a servant to it which is evident through Project Mayhem, where he is visibley against Durden's intents and activities, the death and destruction that have spiralled out of control. This means Durden becomes Hypereal: when reality trying to be represented through a model without being represented itself. Hypereal has a resemblance to something but has no meaning. It's adopted as real. Both simulation and simulacra have signifiers of the original and it's uniqueness, but are manufactured specifically that way to trick people - an illusion. A analogy that Baudrillard makes about the simulation and simulacra is using