About Hyper Reality

Baudrillard said that the “hyperreality” is “a reality without the prototype and authenticity” or “more real than real”, it is the basic definition of “hyperreality”. It can be set up under two conditions：one is that it only can be activated under the behavior patterns of “simulation”, the other is that it is a concept under a certain technology media context and phase.

The theory of hyperreality occupies the core position in Baudrillard's thought. He use the concept of "simulacra"

“simulation”” implosion”’ model’’” code” to reveal a hyperreal world full of symbol——a cultural landscape of post-modern society. At the same time, he express the suffering consciousness and critical spirit of post-modern society.

In the post-modern society, the boundary between real and unreal is becoming more and more fuzzy. “hyper” means that “over and supernormal”, it is different from” surreality”.

The simulation is no longer an experience of reality, it means a virtual object and scene which seems extremely realistic but does not exist in the objective world created by modern electronic technology and information technology. This simulation is not unreal, but more real and reality. It penetrated into all aspects of the society and lead the direction of people’s daily life, as well as control the whole society. For instance, the American Disneyland. The media is no longer a reflection of the real world, instead it is creating a hyperreal world which is more real than real. That’s the reason why Baudrillard said that it’s the map produced the homeland rather than the map reflected the homeland. So Disneyland is not an image of America but a real America, even more like the America than the America.

But in the hyperreal world of Baudrillard, the reality and significance do not exist at all, so it’s impossible of “reproduce” or “performance”. The hyperreality dissolves all the opposition and brokes through all boundaries so that to deconstruct of traditional aesthetics thorough. In this kind of society, reality becomes hyperreality, artificial reproduce is replaced by simulation technology, so as to present a new aesthetic principles and aesthetic taste.

In Baudrillard's famous work Simulacra and Simulation, he utilizes Disneyland as an example to illustrate the term hyperreal. Here it's worthwhile to quote his words as below,

"Disneyland is a perfect model of all the entangled orders of simulacra. It is first of all a play of illusions and phantasms: the Pirates, the Frontier, the Future World, etc. This imaginary world is supposed to ensure the success of the operation. But what attracts the crowds the most is without a doubt the social microcosm, the religious, miniaturized pleasure of real America, of its constraints and joys. One parks outside and stands in line inside, one is altogether abandoned at the exit. The only phantasmagoria in this imaginary world lies in the tenderness and warmth of the crowd, and in the sufficient and excessive number of gadgets necessary to create the multitudinous effect. The contrast with the absolute solitude of the parking lot - a veritable concentration camp - is total. Or, rather inside, a whole panoply of gadgets magnetizes the crowd in directed flows - outside, solitude is directed at a single gadget: the automobile. By an extraordinary coincidence (but this derives without a doubt from the enchantment inherent to this universe), this frozen, childlike world is found to have been conceived and realized by a man who is himself now cryogenized: Walt Disney, who awaits his resurrection through an increase of 180 degrees centigrade."