Simulacra and Digital Media: A Study on Baudrillard's Media Theory

In the context of digital capitalism, the mode of information dissemination and consumption behaviour are undergoing profound changes. The theory of mimesis proposed by the famous French thinker Jean Baudrillard provides an important theoretical framework for understanding this change. This study centres on Jean Baudrillard's theory of mimesis and explores its application in the context of digital media and capitalism. Baudrillard argues that the boundaries between the real and the analogue are increasingly blurred in modern society, with mimesis gradually replacing reality itself. In the context of digital capitalism, media technologies have been found to profoundly change the mode of social and economic functioning. Mediums such as social media continue to reinforce the symbolic attributes of commodities through algorithms and data analytics, fuelling the cycle of symbolic exchange. Consumers consume signs and symbolism more than the objects themselves in this mediated environment. It has been found that digital technologies have not only accelerated the rise of the symbolic economy, but also trapped consumers in a cycle of analogue desire and consumption. This paper aims to provide theoretical references for understanding the consumer culture in the digital age and the media mechanisms behind it.