#2 - The Society of the Spectacle

According to Guy Debord’s, Society of the Spectacle, “the spectacle is 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” (Debord 44).  We as a society have become preoccupied with celebrities and the fantasy it evokes. Debord focuses on our relationship to the social awareness of society. Debord, brings to our attention the fascination we as a society have over celebrities, who appears to have glamorous life styles. Many of those same celebrities we imitate, suffer in silence pretending to be something their not. They appear to have the life most of us can only dream about. We have a tendency of putting celebrities on a pedal stool, serving as role models or individuals we aspire to be like. Often times we live our lives vicariously through others determined by the cars we drive, the clothes we wear and our physical appearances to feel a connection to celebrities. Based on our perception of the true reality,  we are a society trying to find ourselves looking through the  lens of someone else’s life. Resulting, in us losing ourselves. Therefore, the spectacle of society is any trend at that particular time shaped by society as marketable to a worldwide audience.  

“The world we see is the world of commodity” (42). Debord describes our society as spectacle because we allow the media to make our buying decisions for us. We are surrounded by images daily that appeal to us in an effort to fulfill some self-satisfaction. The fact that we disregard traditional values, product consumption has become a way of life. With the rise of media, popular movies, magazine and famous people attacking our emotional appeal rather than our necessity have manipulated our desires as a society. Companies are now concentrating on the consumer rather than the product by convincing us that our social success depends on the products we own. In a society where there are so many individuals unhappy with themselves, suffering from depression and dealing with economic woes, who are looking for anything to provide that quick uplifting solution to life’s problems. As a result, the commodity is essential to economic survival avoiding an economic collapse in society. The commodity spectacle is the products purchased by consumers based on social influential false needs, rather than the basis of need. It can be argued that we the consumers all have needs and wants that are socially formed determined by our society. “Once society discovers that it depends on the economy, the economy in fact depends on the society” (52). Whether it fulfills an empty void or pleases a necessary need, the spectacle has made this all possible for the commodity.

Media provides information and entertainment, but media can also affect our social and cultural traditions. Some form of media touches our lives everyday, economically, socially and culturally. We the consumer supports the media and advertisers by buying the products that are being promoted by popular celebrities. The commodity spectacle affects the way we spend our money. The media appeal to us in ways that, catching our eyes, our ears and our hearts, is influencing the commodities as spectacle. The spectacle of being admired and respected, having social status by our peers. The media recognizes we all crave attention from others, wanting to be seen. For that reason, the media understands the consumer’s attraction to escape. So, the commodity as spectacle using sports figures and music artists as the image of the product. The allure of spectacles, deceiving our minds buying luxury items we don’t need, but desire because Derek Jeter is the face of the product. “This is the society of the spectacle, where the commodity contemplates itself in a world of its own making (Debord)”. As a society of persuasion spectacles, the future of media will continue to have a powerful impact promoting bad values of real and false needs. Media is everywhere, we are.