Society of the Spectacle

The society of the spectacle is a reference to today's age where the media plays the leading role in influencing the public. Spectacle, by definition, is something presented to the public, particularly something that is striking or impressive. Debord describes the spectacle as the platform for "the commodity" to reach the public in such a way that society becomes subject to the commodity. In this case, the commodity is something that is of value and can be sold. This is something tangible and to some extent intangible, but mostly involves tangibles like product and appearance. The intangibles would be ideas, attitude, etc. surrounding such tangibles.

On the other hand, commodity is also spectacle. The commodity also must be striking and impressive to the consumer so that he/she feels that consuming that commodity will also make that person spectacle, or appearing so. It has to provoke a feeling or sentiment that urges people to invest in it. An easy example would be big name brands in regards to clothes and footwear; in this case, Kanye West and his shoes. He is both commodity and spectacle. Any type of clothing or brand that's worn by him becomes something that is coveted by most teenagers that follow streetwear and fashion. The idea that wearing the kinds of clothes Kanye West wears makes you cool is sold to the young consumer. The shoes that he designs are sold for retail than sold again for at least three times that retail price. You buy a two hundred dollar shoe for a thousand dollars just because media presents that shoe as something you need to fit in or "survive" this world that the spectacle and commodity presents.

The impact that the spectacle has on the world is that it presenting the wrong values, thus fooling society into believing that commodities are essential to an augmented survival. Debord states this in paragraph 40, referring to the cause of an abundance of commodities.

Another problem with the spectacle is its accessibility. Though written before smartphones, Henry Jenkins stated in his book Convergence Culture that we are entering an era when media will be everywhere. Back then the only ways to access media were through newspapers, magazines, a computer, which would be stationary. Now it is everywhere, and it is always with you. In paragraph 37 in Chapter 2 of Debord's work, he writes that the commodity world's development is identical to people's estrangement from each other. The picture above perfectly portrays that. With direct access to the spectacle all day and everyday, people have become consumed with their phones, usually distracted with the spectacle and the commodities it is constantly marketing. Consequently, this distances people emotionally from each other, most importantly their family and friends.



Works cited:
1. The Society of the Spectacle, Chapter 2: The Commodity As Spectacle. http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord/2.htm
2. Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins.