Product Range Distribution: Hyper Reality

In Post-Truth: the New War on Truth and How to Fight Back, Matthew D'Ancona discuses the concept of hyper-reality relating to Trumps statement that he watched thousands and thousands of people cheer as the World Trade Centre came down. 'Baudrillard and his peers could not have conjured up a better example of 'hyper-reality' – the mode of discourse in which the gap between the real and the imaginary disappears. Trump had confected a hyper-reality recollection, and would not retract his claim simple because pedants could find no evidence to support it' (D'Ancona, 2017).

Hyper-Reality:
In semiotics and postmodernism, hyperreality is an inability to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced postmodern society. Hyper-reality is seen as a condition where what is real and what is fiction are blended together so there is no clear distinction between the two. There are two main supporting concepts to hyperrealism, simulation and the simulacrum.

Simulation:
Characterised as the blending of reality and representation, where there is no clear indication of where reality stops and representation begins. Baudrillard suggests that simulation no longer takes place in the physical world but takes place in space not categorised by physical limits such as within ourselves and technological simulation etc.

Simulacrum:
Copies depicting events/things that had no original to begin with or that no longer have an original. Baudrillard argues that a simulacrum isn't a copy of the real but becomes the truth in its own right therefor becoming the hyperreal.

Examples of Hyper-Reality:
Disneyland:
Referred to by Baudrillard as an example of hyperreality due to the settings such as Main Street and life sized houses which have been created to look realistic, taking visitors imaginations to a fantastic past. Therefor the false reality creates an illusion making it more desirable for people to buy this reality. The system works to enable visitors to feel that the technology and atmosphere created can give us more reality than nature can, as supported by the use of fake animals such as alligators and hippopotamuses. This fake nature satisfies our imagination and daydream fantasies in real life therefore making them seem more admirable and attractive. The idea that nothing in this world is real as nothing is original but there are endless copies of reality mean that both the imagined and the real are equally hyperreal.

The concept of hyper–reality is interesting in relation to the world of fake news and post-truth politics as we are creating a hyper-real world based on the news we choose to believe which has no origin. Therefor creating a world that no longer represents reality as what is factual and what we believe is true start to blur together as more and more people are treating facts as opinions.  Furthermore the concept that facts are becoming less relevant within politics as politicians appeal to your emotions rather than telling you the facts is another example of hyperrealism as it becomes harder to distinguish what is true and what is fake making it harder to distinguish between the two.