…The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth—it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.[3]
—The quote is credited to Ecclesiastes, but the words do not occur there. It can be seen as an addition,[4] a paraphrase and an endorsement of Ecclesiastes’ condemnation[5] of the pursuit of wisdom as folly and a ‘chasing after wind’—see for example Ecclesiastes 1.16.(taken from Simulacra and simulation, by Jean Baudrillard)
Simulacrum : A simulation that takes the place of something that is supposed to be real.
Hyper Real : The reality that the simulacrum has now become.
American psycho, both the book and the movie were extremely controversial for the time periods in which they came out. Both times, it was for the gratuitous amount of violence displayed primarily against women, with rampant sexism included. The book of course is far more brutal and describes in detail Patrick’s affinity for rape and murder, while the movie, hampered by American standards on obscenity can only go so far. Both however are effective at displaying the character’s fight to both be accepted in the liberal-capitalist elite order, and his violent lashing out at society for making him forced to do so. More…