Baudrillard: The Reality of Illusion

Rufo’s post puts Baudrillard’s complicated and intricate theories into historical perspective by discussing his original position as a Marxist looking to improve and expand upon the theory. Baudrillard discussed the importance of the understanding of “sign-value” in that an object is not worth what it is but instead what it represents. Rufo gives the example of brand name clothing such as Tommy Hilfiger. 

I found this example particularly interesting and disturbing. As a college student, keeping up with fashion is some what of a priority and a struggle. Through Capitalist ideologies, we are lead to believe that we need to work in order to have money for expensive things and that one tshirt is worth more money than another. However, it is not the material or labor that produced that shirt that we pay for, its the logo that represents what we want and how we want to be perceived. 

More importantly, Rufo explains that Baudrillard feels that Marx made a big mistake when he “naturalizes” labor. Marx claimed that in a communist society man would still work because he instinctively wants to feel useful and produce materials. This is an ideology that supports capitalism as well because there is truly no such thing as “natural,” only ideas and traditions that are passed on throughout society. Marx believes it should be the workers who control means of production instead of the capitalists but Baudrillard argues that this works in the capitalists favor. He thinks by claiming that labor is “natural” labor becomes the main focus, making the working class unconcerned and uninvolved with the means on production.

The concept of mass production relates directly to Baudrillard’s theories about simulation because the production of goods is constantly making it easier for people with less money to “simulate” the possessions and lifestyles of those in the higher class. I thought this was a particularly interesting concept because it really continues to dismiss any notion of originality and focus on the reality that there are only copies everywhere we go. He relates this not only to material things but to theories as well, such as Marxism, that present themselves as original thoughts and theoretical truths but in creating this insight they are also producing a simulation of insight.

Rufo goes on to discuss Baudrillards orders of simulation. He uses money as an example of how the orders work. Rufo explains how money starts out as a representation of goods but eventually has no correlation to anything real. We see this as the value of the dollar changes through circumstance, making the idea of a dollar a truly figurative thing. When traveling abroad, the value of my savings changed drastically from location to location making the meaning of a dollar unstable. This is not something we think about from day to day as we continue to participate in a system where we seek out money, an unstable representation of power, in order to obtain the things we want and need. Rufo later discusses how credit cards become part of the 4th order of the simulacrum. With credit cards, you are not only using something as unstable as money but you don’t even have to have it in order to spend it.

Later, Rufo expands on Baudrillards orders of the simulacra and I found this to be a particularly difficult concept. He mentions the term simulacrum, meaning a copy without and original, and uses theme parks as an example. When visiting a place like Disney, we see attempted recreations of movie scenes and famous locations but because nothing is exactly the same, the copy is original in its own right. Baudrillard claims that this confuses reality and furthers the simulacrum because our real experience is being shaped by the idea of something else. 

I find Baudrillard both confusing and frustrating. However, I can see that my frustration comes from a need for answers and a need to grasp what is real. Baudrillard wants us to let go of the idea of capturing reality and instead grasp on to the truth of illusion and mystery. We cannot grasp illusion in our society where everything is “realized” and as a student whose main goal is to obtain knowledge, this can be difficult.