Simulacra

In the world we live in today it is hard to decipher what is real and what is simulation. When engaging in video games, social media, and television it is sometimes diffecult to evaluate whether something is original or whether it is a copy. The French philosopher Jean Baudrillard came up with this concept called simulacra, which is basically talking about simulation in everyday life. This concept came out of the postmodern era, and now it is easy to catch simulacra in any form of media today. The show 30 Rock by Tina Fey delves into the idea of simulacra. The plot of the show is to replicate a sketch comedy television show, which is very similar to that of Saturday Night Live. The basis of the show is to make is appear like it is an actual sketch comedy production, and it is very iconic to SNL's sketches. There are many similar scenes in that are set up to look like a SNL sketch, such as this sketch called "Oh No My Period!"

This sketch is meant to replicate the style of writing and staging that SNL typically uses.The style is very iconic to SNL's comedy style of political parody and satire, which is what made the show so famous.