Society of the Spectacle: Layers of Reality

The Society of the Spectacle, written in 1967 by French theorist Guy DeBord, is a series of short theses which cover some fascinating topics relating to mass media production and an expanded array of psychological and economic theories. In thesis 44, DeBord describes the Spectacle as "a permanent opium war designed to force people to equate goods with commodities and to equate satisfaction with a survival that expands according to its own laws." More simply put, the spectacle is an illusion of necessity, an "abstract general equivalent" of all commodities, creating a world full of desire for unnecessary things, while shunning actual basic human needs.

This second chapter specifically talks about the theme of commodity as spectacle. A commodity is a material or product that can be bought or sold. In our economic system, nearly everything has been turned into a commodity, necessary or not. This world of commodity in the spectacle was summed up in thesis 37 when DeBord said that one of the roles of the spectacle "holds up to view is the world of the commodity dominating all living experience." That is that the spectacle of commodity has become so all encompassing that it has become a world of it's own, hovering above, but separate from, the real world but hardly distinguishable by the consumer.

The Spectacle of Commodity hangs over the physical world

DeBord's piece continues on to elaborate about the truly problematic nature of the spectacle and all of the realms that it encompasses. On a humanistic level, Debord touched on the commodification of labor and economy in thesis 40; "This constant expansion of economic power in the form of commodities transformed human labor itself into a commodity, into wage labor, and ultimately produced a level of abundance sufficient to solve the initial problem of survival — but only in such a way that the same problem is continually regenerated at a higher level." The pervasion and ignorance of basic human needs by this spectacle goes even beyond the workplace.

Your thinking is being done for you

In this modern age, the individual goes from selling hours and hours of their life for a wage to finally being able to rest at the weekend, but the spectacle has encompassed that part of life as well. You go from a laborer to a consumer, always playing your role in the spectacle.

"Once his workday is over, the worker is suddenly redeemed from the total contempt toward him that is so clearly implied by every aspect of the organization and surveillance of production, and finds himself seemingly treated like a grown-up, with a great show of politeness, in his new role as a consumer." (DeBord 43)

Everything is now commodified. In this world we can no longer see past commodification. The spectacle is the portrayal of a life that you could and should have. In fact, you absolutely NEED it. Every single advertisement is designed to make you feel like you have a deficiency in your life and it needs to be filled by material items. Instead of going to the grocery store and getting your food, get a quick and cheap meal at a fast food joint. Instead of enjoying the present and giving your mental health proper care and preservation, we are being directed to this other realm where all your needs and faults can be rectified by unconsciously participating in the spectacle.




WORKS CITED

Debord, Guy. "The Society of the Spectacle." Chapter 2: The Commodity as Spectacle.