THE SUBSTITUTION OF REALITY: MADONNA AS A TOOL OF MASS MEDIA

Abstract

Using qualitative research methods, we will explicate how the internet and other modern technologies directly impact the reality presented. Through specific segments of this study, we will analyze the democratization of art, fashion, and image in contemporary society, focusing primarily on its real, current, and true-media publication through the phenomenon of Madonna. Employing methods of textual analysis and interpretation, we will examine the works of philosophers Jean Baudrillard, cultural theorist Paul Virilio, and Douglas Kellner. In doing so, we will explain the significance of media manipulation. The primary objective of this study is to depict media through postmodern theory, presenting them as leading factors in contemporary social processes. Postmodern theorists emphasize that the media system, which has dominated reality since the early 21st century, is unable to summon the past, causing human existence to fall into a state of perpetual schizophrenic present. This incapacity results in the simulation of past events, which now return as a series of anachronistic media representations, creating the illusion of historical continuity. This leads to a state of historical amnesia, where the sense of connection to the past is lost. In such a context, everyday human experience becomes fragmented and disoriented. Media, as the primary intermediaries between reality and perception, create a new reality detached from historical continuity and deeply rooted in the present moment. This new reality, shaped by media representations, blurs the boundary between the real and the simulated, further amplifying the sense of temporal dislocation.