Television's role in American presidential politics is significant; sixty percent of the American people identify television as their sole soure of news. Thus, a presidential candidate must do his best to appear favorably in the media. Some scholars have suggested that this involves the creation of an "image" which appeals to the electorate, even to the exent of creating the appearance of a "reality" unsupported by known facts. We continue to explore the creation of these televisual images with the assistance of some insights made by a controversial french social theorist, Jean Baudrillard. Applying his ideas of hyperreality, simulation, "will to spectacle," fate, and power to Bill Clinton's 1992 appearance on 60 Minutes (in which he denys allegations of an affair with Geniffer Flowers) and that year's Democratic National Convention film, The Man from Hope, we corroborate the "image making" aspects of theories purported by Tim Luke and Joanne Morreale. However, we also suggest that the televisual images generated by the presidential campaign satisfy more than the candidate's political aspirations, they also fulfill a social demand for reality's production. Furthermore, we find that difficulties determining an image's meaning suggest that its appeal to the electorate is based more on "sentiment" than its ability to construct a comprehensive, consistent representation of reality. These arguments are then summarily applied to Monica Lewinsky's introduction into political discourse in late January and early February 1998. / Master of Arts

There is a beauty to the absurdity of the moment at which there is almost no line between the real and the unreal. In such realm, an illusion, and yet the possibility, of a tower acts as a protagonist with which one can begin to let his imagination approve of the absurd, the too ambitious, the unlikely. The first nine towers are the outcome of my attempt to intertwine two arenas of photography and architecture. They investigate the possibility of compressing the reality of a place into a hyperreal image consisting of a photograph of the place, which acts as the site, and a fantastical addition. They also aim to document and express my memories of the places that I visited during my more than 15,000 miles of traveling over the past year. Each tower is an homage to the memory of its respective place. / Master of Architecture

Who are we? Why do we do the things we do? These questions are constantly under scrutiny, forever unable to provide us with adequate answers, it seems. Yet, with the continuing rise in popularity of digital media, we are able to situate these questions in a different sphere and see aspects of the self that we were unable to perceive before. Digital media forms have provided us with the capacity to explore whole new worlds, as well as allowing for new and innovative methods of communication. These changes make a huge impact on the daily lives of individuals. This thesis presents a theoretical contribution to both psychoanalytic thinking and to the rapidly expanding field of games studies, with especial reference to avatar-based games. It considers the status of the bond formed between the individual at play (known here as the ‘user’) and the game itself. Furthermore, it presents this as a model which identifies the user’s relation to the game dynamic through an understanding of the key components of a video game, including aspects such as the control mechanism. Elements which cross the boundary between the user/game realities are also considered with relation to hyperreality, thus forming a more complete imagining of this framework. This also allows for an application of this dynamic to what we define as violent (and associated) acts within games. In turn, this allows for a more complete understanding of the game situation, and can be applied to our understanding of the user as well. This thesis provides a standalone framework which can also be utilised in other types of investigation in future.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the reasons as to why upper secondary school students use ChatGPT, how history teachers are dealing with this technology and how these developments will affect the history subject. This was done via a survey for students at a upper secondary school in Gothenburg, Sweden, and semi-structured interviews with two teachers at the same school. The main theoretical lens of this research was based on Jean Baudrillard’s theory on simulation, simulacra and hyperreality. This to gain an understanding on how this usage of ChatGPT can be understood and analyzed. What the results show is that a majority of students that partook in this survey have used ChatGPT in their schooling. Why they used it differs, but amongst them a plurality of them saw it as something akin to Google but more effective and targeted. The interviews showed that that history teachers sees difficulties in the future to properly assess students’ abilities on written assignments, and that the fundamentals of the history subjects are at risk. What is sought after is clearer guidelines, and a cross-societal response to these developments.

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In this thesis I examine the philosophical views of John Searle, Guy Debord, and Jean Baudrillard. These thinkers have radically different methodologies and theoretical alignments, but they are not entirely dissimilar. John Searle argues that there are two types of facts—those independent of human observation and those whose meaning depends on agreement. Guy Debord posits that modern society has replaced authentic social life with mere representation. The “spectacle” has replaced real interactions with others so that meaning itself is no longer authentic; it is treated as a commodity or currency. Jean Baudrillard argues that society has replaced reality with signs and symbols. Thus, human experience consists only of simulations, not reality itself. Each of these figures maintains that meaning is socially constructed. After examining the key assumptions of their respective theories, I demonstrate that their accounts are compatible and argue that their accounts are most cohesive when considered together.

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This thesis forms a sociological investigation of the ‘hipster’ subculture that has grown in importance in recent years. Using the methodology of semiotic analysis, it examines the trends and themes shown by the images that hipsters post on the microblogging website Tumblr, as well as analysing hipster journalism, texts and companies. This communication is conceptualised with reference to Jean Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality in order to show that hipsters communicate in a way that distorts the perception of real space and results in the abstraction of the meaning of ideas like “global” and “local”. It also explores the importance of secret knowledge in a community that manages to be both secretive and extremely open, comparing this example with the historical case of the Beat Generation, who hipsters have adopted as their progenitors, and discusses how their influence drives the hipster to view the world as a literary text to be re-read and re-interpreted.

abstract: This thesis will examine how the Middle Ages are historically interpreted and portrayed in the United States. In order to keep this study within reasonable bounds, the research will exclude films, television, novels, and other forms of media that rely on the Pre-Modern period of European history for entertainment purposes. This thesis will narrow its focus on museums, non-profit organizations, and other institutions, examining their methods of research and interpretation, the levels of historical accuracy or authenticity they hold themselves to, and their levels of success. This thesis ultimately hopes to prove that the medieval period offers the same level of public interest as popular periods of American history. This focus on reenactment serves to illustrate the need for an American audience to form a simulated connection to a historical period for which they inherently lack geographic or cultural memory. The utilization of hyperreality as described by Umberto Eco lends itself readily to this historic period, and plays to the American desire for total mimetic immersion and escapism. After examining the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition of medieval history as high art and culture, the thesis focuses on historical reenactment, as it offers a greater level of visitor interaction, first by analyzing R.G. Collingwood’s definition of “reenactment” and it’s relation to the modern application in order to establish it as a veritable academic practice. The focus of the thesis then turns to the historical interpretation/reenactment program identified here as historical performance, which uses trained actors in controlled museum conditions to present historically accurate demonstrations meant to bring the artifacts on display to simulated life. Beginning with the template first established by the Royal Armories Museum in the United Kingdom, a comparative study utilizing research and interviews highlights the interpretative methods of the Frazier History Museum, and those of the Higgins Armory Museum. By comparing both museum’s methods, a possible template for successfully educating the American public about the European Middle Ages; while a closer examination of the Frazier Museum’s survival compared to the Higgins Armory’s termination may illustrate what future institutions must do or avoid to thrive. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis History 2015

Abstract This research report attempts to examine how the story of gold, and gold mining, is told, and is being retold, at both the Victorian- themed Gold Reef City theme park and in within the Main Street mining precinct in the Johannesburg Central Business District (CBD). The report will therefore look at how imbued ideologies have resulted in a particular formation of the mining heritage shown in both themed spaces. Works by de Certeau (1988) and Eco (1990), for example, form a framework for academic discourse around practiced space within the ‘city’, and the nature of hyperreality. Overall, and including results from participant observation at the theme park, and sample surveys undertaken in the Main Street precinct, one is able to better attempt an understanding of how the story of gold at both sites has been created by certain ideologies, and examine them in light Johannesburg’s changing persona in light of global influences.