Point of View of Jean Baudrillard on the Philosophy of Cinema Survival

Abstract

Jean Baudrillard the postmodern social theorist adopted a philosophical approach for explanation of the contemporary world. Baudrillard refers to the current state of affairs in the world as “Hyperreality” and believes that today the simulacra are more real than the reality itself. Art and cinema have also turned into tools of simulation and Baudrillard targets them with his penetrating critiques. The present essay is an effort to discuss Baudrillard’s solution for cinema’s survival. Among the achievements of the current essay, one can mention the fact that according to Baudrillard, contemporary cinema is so immersed in the simulacrum that it has become a means for simulation. Baudrillard is so pessimistic that it does not seem that in his view, there would be a path in the postmodern world to escape the simulacra. As a result, cinema does not also have any path to avoid it. The solutions suggested by the authors are basically focused on taking advantage of the simulation itself; of course, this simulation is intended to expose the simulacra to which we are referring as “simulating the simulacra”. Consequently, in this essay – through continuous references to Baudrillard’s ideas – it becomes evident that “simulating the simulacra” can occur through excessive insistence on simulation. Among the operational approaches that can assist it, one would refer to frequent use of digital special effects or “doubled simulation” toward the exposition of cinema’s simulation.

Keywords

• philosophy
• cinema
• reality
• jean baudrillard
• hyperreality
• simulacra
• simulation