Discuss Jean Baudrillard's theory of The society of the Simulacrum. Is Essay

Discuss Jean Baudrillard's theory of The society of the Simulacrum. Is photography one of its mechanism or one of its casualties - Essay Example Furthermore, these images have influence on us and our perception. It is not easy to answer directly the question: Is photography one of its mechanisms or one of its casualties This paper will try to approach both sides of the issue considering the place of photography and images take in Jean Baudrillard's theory of simulacrum; it will also give examples and scenes illustrating the key-point factors concerning photography in the theory. It will help to understand Jean Baudrillard's theory of the society of the Simulacrum and approach to the answer. 2. Jean Baudrillard gave its own sense of the term "simulacra". He explained that this term means hyperreality which takes place while we live and learn the world around us through photography and other visual images: "Baudrillard claims that our society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that in fact all that we know as real is actually a simulation of reality. The simulacra that Baudrillard refers to are signs of culture and media that create the reality that we perceive" (5). Almost all that we see and know about the world and people is taken by us through visual images created by media and contemporary technologies. Photography also plays a very important role for our world perception. But photography has its own specialities for an observer: "The photograph reproduces what only happens once. It repeats mechanically what will never be repeated existentially. In it, the event doesn't transcend itself into something else" (3). An observer has no abili ty to see an event reflected on photography in action. It reflects reality of events which are already gone. So, a photo picture is not real for us. So, it is related to Jean Baudrillard's theory of simulacrum as unreal world. Photography, as well as some other images which bring us visual information, is the imprint of a past event made by technical means, and has no real relation to the present: "The photography, the film, the novel, the art testify since the 19th century of this emergence of the object, of objects in their matter-of-factness, in their nauseous banality, in their hostile technicity" (3).An operator making a snapshot is a part of the mechanism. He plays an active role in transforming reality into visual images. He stops the instant; he is a moderator of the process. And his function of reality reflecting comes to an end when a snapshot has been done. So, he is not a part of this reflected reality: "In any case, the operator has to disappear at the same time as he m akes his object disappear. This is a part of the magical illusion of the photography. Have you noticed that God is absent from all photographs And why is He absent Because Himself is the photographer" (3). So, Jean Baudrillard makes