The Society of the Spectacle

From Metapedia

Guy Debord, a situationist theorist, published The Society of the Spectacle in 1967, arguing that society had become a spectacle which individuals experience as something outside of themselves - in effect, that individuals have become spectators of their own lives, stripped of any real sense of control. Debord suggests that, within the spectacular society, social relations are mediated through images, which distance people from one another and from any experience of their environments. Debord argued that, in the spectacular society, individuals could either be passive consumers of the spectacle, or they could revolt against it, as happened in Paris in 1968 when protesters took to the streets, reappropriating the urban environment.

- Megan

In order to fully understand the meaning of “The Society of the Spectacle”, it is firstly important to discuss how and from where the concept emerged. Debord, the creator of the concept was a founding member of a group called the Situationist International that consisted of social theorists, avant-garde artists and Left Bank intellectuals that had a background in mostly European art movements. The group based its ideology on Futurism, Dada and Surrealism. They worked to study the relationship between art and life and with Debord’s introduction of his theory; political analysis also became an important form of representation in. In other words, The Society of the Spectacle has aimed to explain how contemporary global economy has the power to influence representation through manipulation of society. This manipulation comes from the mediation of images. It creates a false consciousness of reality through hypnotic images. http://library.nothingness.org/articles/4/en/display/70

-Melis

The works of Takashi Murakami are an interesting interpretation/example of "The Society of the Spectacle".
See for example:

The orbs and eyeballs dominating the image, replicated all over the image, constitute a commentary and representation of a society fixated and dominated by the visual spectacle. The jagged teeth in the smiling face also add a touch of ominousness and threat to the image: the smile reveals sharp, dangerous teeth-- perhaps a commentary on the deceptiveness of sweetness, hinting that there may lurk sharp teeth behind many an apparently cute face and smile. Also, on the level of "The Society of the Spectacle," this image could be read as commenting on the danger of the society of the spectacle as such.

-TD-