Ah yes, here we go. Baudrillard is discussing something that greatly intrigues me: the concept of Disneyland. "Disneyland is a perfect model of all the entangled orders of simulacra. It is the 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" (393). When you walk into Disneyland, there is a sign. It reads: "Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy." Disneyland creates something else entirely. Disneyland creates an imaginary scape and, by doing so, allows the audience to come to believe it as reality, when really it is all just, what we call, forced perspective. Everything from the multi-story buildings to the sweet popcorn smell is a created illusion.
The focus that Baudrillard is getting at is that of hyperreality. Disneyland goes beyond simply just blending the real world into fiction, providing us will an illusionary world. It creates the symbolism for something else altogether. Over the years, Disneyland has created an identity for itself. It is more than just a theme park now. It is a thing of legend, like Santa Claus or the America that's painted in old propaganda. It is hyperrealistic and it roots itself in our culture as something more extreme than it actually is.
The focus that Baudrillard is getting at is that of hyperreality. Disneyland goes beyond simply just blending the real world into fiction, providing us will an illusionary world. It creates the symbolism for something else altogether. Over the years, Disneyland has created an identity for itself. It is more than just a theme park now. It is a thing of legend, like Santa Claus or the America that's painted in old propaganda. It is hyperrealistic and it roots itself in our culture as something more extreme than it actually is.
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