Society of the Spectacle

Spectacle of the Society or Society of the Spectacle?
Contributor: Christopher Cuenca

The Society of the Spectacle is a work published by Guy-Ernest Debord in which he presents the concept of the Spectacle which was a central notion of in the Situationist theory. In Debord's words "The commodity can only be understood in its undistorted essence when it becomes the universal category of society as a whole. Only in this context does the reification produced by commodity relations assume decisive importance both for the objective evolution of society and for the stance adopted by men towards it. Only then does the commodity become crucial for the subjugation of men's consciousness to the forms in which this reification finds expression.... As labor is progressively rationalized and mechanized man's lack of will is reinforced by the way in which his activity becomes less and less active and more and more contemplative." Those are strong words from a guy who existed in 1967 but nevertheless this was a time period of change across the world and one could understand why his ideas were put into such a mentality as the Situationist theory. 

Debord discusses commodity in the following nature "In the essential movement of the spectacle, which consists of taking up all that existed in human activity in a fluid state so as to possess it in a congealed state as things which have become the exclusive value by their formulation in negative of lived value, we recognize our old enemy, the commodity, who knows so well how to seem at first glance something trivial and obvious, while on the contrary it is so complex and so full of metaphysical subtleties. This is the principle of commodity fetishism, the domination of society by "intangible as well as tangible things," which reaches its absolute fulfillment in the spectacle, where the tangible world is replaced by a selection of images which exist above it, and which simultaneously impose themselves as the tangible par excellence." He basically is describing that the world is being taken over by materialistic things and materialistic thoughts. 

Let's take the example of this famous actress, she goes by the name of Marilyn Monroe and is still very popular in today's pop-culture as she was back in the 1950s. If we take Guy's words word by word "where the tangible world is replaced by a selection of images which exist above it, and which simultaneously impose themselves as the tangible par excellence", Marilyn Monroe fits those words perfectly. In a society filled with images of a woman as beautiful as she was, women themselves want to be her, envy her and buy what is of her. This imposes the idea where the commodity becomes something of need rather than want. "I need to buy the same lipstick she use" or "I need to have a figure like hers" are thoughts that surrounded many women during Monroe's time period because Monroe was considered perfection! 

"Consumer Society" as explained by Durham and Kellner translated from Debord is the consumption of not only images but commodities also. Let's look at an example through Marvel's films Captain America and Iron Man. These two films share a character in common and I am not referring to neither superhero. Howard Stark, the rich entrepreneur and founder of Stark Industries, which would later be passed on to Tony. In Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Howard Stark introduces us to high tech technology during a time period of war (WWII). To no surprise, Marvel was not that far off as cars started to be manufactured during that time. While not as cool and impressive as the ones Stark introduced they sure share the idea that would become the future of this country. Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man follows in his father's playboy lifestyle enjoying a lavish lifestyle full of high tech in home flat screen tvs, furniture and top class vehicles. This has become a trend in which vehicles have now become part of our everyday lifestyle. Most people can't imagine a world without a car, what would they do? where would they go? Cars also have gone from being a want (use public transportation as an alternative or walk) to a need (I am going to the grocery store 2 blocks away). I do not criticize the society of the spectable but rather agree that in turn the effects of images and commodities has changed society drastically. 

Spectacle continually intensifies, producing ever more attenuated and atomised

social relations. Modern consumer culture becomes less and less able to offer its subjects

ways to live in the present, to accept the flow of time or push aside instant gratification. The

compulsion to document one’s life in images through the habitual use of phone- and videocameras

is hollow at its core, the effect of profound alienation. The only reality that spectacle

can offer, write Retort, is that of Reality TV (Stallabras, 2006). This author explains what I will try to end my blog with in the sense that the society of the spectacle has gone far beyond images and commodities. I am sure we are familiar with the term "selfie" right? First adopted from what I recall through a social media platform called Instagram to then being passed on to Snapchat. Well that is what our world today is becoming. A social media crazed society where our lives depend and are spent on these social media platforms that help us interact with one another. We want to go ahead and share the best moments of our lives with friends and loved ones whom we don't get the opportunity to see everyday. A simple snap shared in minutes has helped us come a long way from old ways of communication such as the telephone, telegraph, postal mail, email, and even text messaging. Unbelievable! Stallabras makes a good point relevant in 2006 but now I am going to add my own twist to his theory. Reality TV was once popular in pop culture where we would watch a TV series of famous or non famous individuals and their lifestyles and well in some way try to copy and imitate those lifestyles for our own. Well now Reality TV is not as popular as a snap-chat story or at least that's what I feel. Reality TV has gone to be part of the history book to allow snap-chat and other social media technologies to allow participants to also become part of the world of the society of spectacle. 

Works Cited

1. Durham, Meenakshi Gigi., and Douglas Kellner. Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006. Print.
2. Stallabras, Julian. Spectacle and Terror. London: New Left Review, 2006. Print.