Jeremy Olshvang

9/23/15

Society of the spectacle post

            The society of the spectacle refers to the idea that human beings as a species are mesmerized and enamored by the ever-expanding media landscape that dominates our lives through its omnipresence. What this means is that the media, in its various forms and outlets, affects us by controlling what we are exposed to on a daily basis and persuading us to behave in certain ways. From the clothes we wear to the news we read, the spectacle is constantly influencing us in ways we might not even realize because we have become so immersed in it. The way Debord describes the spectacle is actually in terms of its own impact. This is apparent when he says, “In the spectacle’s basic practice of incorporating into itself all the fluid aspects of human activity so as to possess them in a congealed form, and of inverting living values into purely abstract values…” (Debord, 35). Debord is speaking to the idea that the spectacle is media that manages to integrate itself into all facets of our lives in an attempt to control our thoughts, opinions, and actions. Therefore, it is called a spectacle because it dominates all that we see. However, to just say that the spectacle is the media without knowing exactly what the media is can be too vague of a definition. In his book “Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide,” Henry Jenkins defines media through a model provided by a historian named Lisa Gitelman in which media “…works on two levels: on the first, a medium is a technology that enables communication; on the second, a medium is a set of associated ‘protocols’ or social and culture practices that have grown up around that technology” (Jenkins, 13-14). Jenkins’ definition of media as the technology we use to communicate as well as the opinions, behaviors, and mannerisms that form as effects of that technology and communication helps to further illustrate the power of Debord’s idea of the spectacle and its effect on society.

A modern day example of Debord’s spectacle would be the influence that the social media application Instagram has had on society. On its surface level, Instagram is merely an application that enables users to share photos with one another. However, because of the power of the spectacle Instagram is more widely known for the culture it has created around itself and now promotes. A form of social media intended for sharing photos has become synonymous with superficiality and fakeness. One would think this would deter people from using it yet the society of the spectacle has become so engrossed by its culture because we tend not to realize it or are just trying to keep with the status quo. Perhaps the biggest reason we as people continue to behave in this manner is due to the impact of what Debord refers to as the commodity. Debord describes the commodity as “the domination of society by “imperceptible as well as perceptible things” (Debord, 36). Sticking with the example of Instagram, we as people are dominated by yet captivated with images on social media that are real in the general sense, but so heavily edited or taken out of context in ways that many times go over our heads. This is why the commodity, as Debord goes on to say, “attains its ultimate fulfillment in the spectacle, where the perceptible world is replaced by a selection of images which is projected above it, yet which at the same time succeeds in making itself regarded as the perceptible par excellence” (Debord, 36). Commodities are created in the spectacle because we as people are many times deceived into substituting real, attainable thoughts, actions, and goals with delusions of grandeur. Eventually, after enough human exposure to commodities they themselves become the spectacle. Debord describes this process when he says, “The spectacle is the stage at which the commodity has succeeded in totally colonizing social life. Commodification is not only visible, we no longer see anything else; the world we see is the world of the commodity” (Debord, 42). Once a commodity has become so immersed in our culture to the point where it feels as though it has become a part of our everyday lives, it has become the spectacle. It is all we see and we do not question it, we just go along with it because we feel like we have to in order to keep up with everyone else. However, what we take for granted is that in doing so, we not only are willingly allowing ourselves to be controlled, but we are giving up our individuality.

Cartoon depicting how our needs as a society have shifted as a result of the spectacle

Picture depicting how the spectacle has captivated us entirely as a species

Bibliography

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York UP, 2008. Print.

"The Society of the Spectacle." (2) (Debord). N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.