The first stage is a faithful image/copy, where we believe, and it may even be correct, that a sign is a āreflection of a profound realityā, this is a good appearance, in what Baudrillard called āthe sacramental order
The second stage is perversion of reality, this is where we come to believe the sign to be an unfaithful copy, which āmasks and denaturesā reality as an āevil appearanceāit is of the order of maleficenceā. Here, signs and images do not faithfully reveal reality to us, but can hint at the existence of an obscure reality which the sign itself is incapable of encapsulating.
The third stage masks the absence of a profound reality, where the sign pretends to be a faithful copy, but it is a copy with no original. Signs and images claim to represent something real, but no representation is taking place and arbitrary images are merely suggested as things which they have no relationship to. Baudrillard calls this the āorder of sorceryā, a regime of semantic algebra where all human meaning is conjured artificially to appear as a reference to the (increasingly) hermetic truth.
The fourth stage is pure simulacrum, in which the simulacrum has no relationship to any reality whatsoever. Here, signs merely reflect other signs and any claim to reality on the part of images or signs is only of the order of other such claims. This is a regime of total equivalency, where cultural products need no longer even pretend to be real in a naĆÆve sense, because the experiences of consumersā lives are so predominantly artificial that even claims to reality are expected to be phrased in artificial, āhyperrealā terms. Any naĆÆve pretension to reality as such is perceived as bereft of critical self-awareness, and thus as oversentimental.(source)
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