In Simulacra and Simulations, Baudrillard argues that a capitalist world and reality are a fake world and reality, one wherein human beings live in an illusionary world created by capitalism. People live in a fantasy world as opposed to the real world. As Edward Miller (2004) argues in his essay, The Matrix and The MediumÆs Massage, BaudrillardÆs dystopia of the future is fairly representation of contemporary society:
For Baudrillard, all of the United States is a theme park. In this corporate-sponsored illusion, authentic experience is in fact nostalgia. æRealityÆ can only appear in quotes and the original is all but replaced by copies (p. 2).
There is no coincidence to the fact that the Wachowski brothers who direct the 1999 motion picture The Matrix provide one shot showing a copy of BaudrillardÆs Simulacra and Simulation. For The Matrix visualizes a society much like the one depicted in BaudrillardÆs view of American society and the future, one where individuals are so lulled into being the slaves of the corporate generated reality that they do not even know it is not reality. This analysis will address how BaudrillardÆs theories are illustrated by the motion picture The Matrix.
Baudrillard (1986) described the U.S. as a land of signs without referents; of media, but not politics; of a network of ôsimulacraö but not the sinews of power; of a present without a past; and of a future that entices the rest of the Western World, (p. 16). He argued that the nation is filled with advertisements and sensations, but is barren of meaning. Only those who control society in order to achieve their goals provide any meaning or truths to those they primarily wish to manipulate. As notes in lecture, Baudrillard viewed American society and its allegedly foundation truths as
àjust scams or rackets that people who have most of the goodies use to justify their success. Capitalism and Marxism are the same: both are...