Baudrillard’s Theory – How it relates to my chosen brief.

BAUDRILLARD’S THEORY:

Baudrillard, a French sociology professor, showed anger at the media for simplifying reality to make it more palatable and pleasing for the mass audiences. In other words, blurring fiction and reality to get an untrue and tainted perspective of real life.

…Baudrillard’s theory can be adapted to my chosen brief, as the blurring of fiction and reality i intend to use in my piece aims to give a blury and unsure perspective of whats going on. For example, it is studying the excitment and adrenaline rushes of the celebrity, not highlighting their favourite trip to the supermarket etc.

HYPER REALITY:

Baudrillard claims this illusion is created by Hyper Reality, the merging of reality and fiction. Baudrillard’s theory suggests that we are just living in a ‘copy world’ and do not really care what type of media we receive as long as it stimulates the viewer and pleases them. Therefore the line between fiction and reality becomes less important and hyper reality is chosen over reality.

…My piece will show an amount of Hyper-Reality, as hopefully it will excite the viewer enough to enjoy the fast paced and exhilarating storyline, and forget about the actual amount of reality in the piece.

OTHER EXAMPLES…

-          A life that cannot be (Celebrity lifestyle and influence on the public.)

A good example of this is MTV’s programme Cribs. The programme shows in detail the homes of celebrities that no average viewer could ever afford. It is designed to let the viewer indulge in the hyper-reality, admire what they have achieved, and aim to get it themselves.

…This example of Baudrillard’s theory will definately take place in my documentary. As i will be focusing on an idealised celebrity lifestyle, that most people, not even other celebrities could realistically achieve.

Other examples include, digitally enhanced photos and theme parks. This being because of the altered and obscured combination of reality and features of fiction to enhance it. For example, a model’s photograph on the front of Vogue would never be published not digitally enhanced, because of society being used to and being pleased and stimulated by seeing ‘perfect’ people. This proves Baudrillard’s theory of Hyper Reality; as it is clear that society is happy with the blurred mix of reality and fiction to see what they imagine as ‘the best something can be.’

An example of theme parks, could be the multi-million pound business of Disney, and it’s merge of fictional disney stories with the general public with it’s creation of Disney land and Disney world theme parks. Giving the chance for everyday people to live the life of a fairy tale, not just in the theme park itself, but the hotel guests stay at, this gives an example of Hyper Reality at it’s best. Not only do people get to experience a fictional world in the daytime, but they also get to live the story from when they wake up, to when they go to sleep – the ultimate hyper reality.  

Overall Baudrillard’s Theory realates to my chosen brief in many different ways. Although hyper-reality can sometimes become ridiculous, i aim to include it in an interesting way that keeps the viewer intrigued.