This chapter outlines a theoretical model that allows for the analysis of aesthetic operations of destruction, with the understanding that those operations have the potential to provoke experiences of sovereignty. In order to establish the relationship between aesthetic destruction and the experience of sovereignty, I outline Bataille's concept of the ‘general economy’ and the relationship it has to media cultures as they are situated in contemporary capitalism. I then present an argument for this relationship between the sovereign experience produced by aesthetic and experiential destruction and simulacra in media cultures. I elaborate on Bataille's sovereignty in relation to the ancient use of the term, and explore the difference between Carl Schmitt's sovereign exception, Walter Benjamin's designation of sovereign violence in relation to social and political structures and the potential for resistant activity that resides in Bataille's outcast sovereign. Following this, I approach discussions of form and matter, particularly in relation to the processes of transgression that Bataille's work inspires in Foucault. Finally, I explore the relationship between the simulacrum and sovereignty in various forms of representation, including film and art practices, in order to provide a theoretical orientation for the remainder of the book.