The Commodity of the Spectacle

In order to define spectacle in Guy Debord’s chapter two Commodity of the Spectacle, all you would have to do is look at the world around you. What was once a culture of work, trade, and barter has been decommissioned to a life of inanimate objects and lifestyles to define quality of life. In Debord’s intro, he describes the commodity as the universal category of society as a whole. The evolution he speaks of is the ideal that labor is no longer exchanged for goods, but the main premonition of men’s subconscious is rationalized by lack of will to work for what he needs rather than what he desires. The explanation of the spectacle is what we see in media; the constant reiteration of products and delusions of sustenance that don’t exist but somehow can be achieved. “The spectacle is defined by the moment when the commodity has attained the total occupation of social life. Not only is the relation to the commodity visible, but it is all one sees: the world one sees is its world” (Debord 41). The impact of the spectacle according to Debord is societal war; which aims to make people identify goods with satisfaction and survival.

The impact of the commodity on society as described by Debord, is essential for survival in a society that is driven by a hunger for things of value. The spectacle provides a visual of a state of being that can’t always be fulfilled. “This is the principle of commodity fetishism, the domination of society by tangible and intangible as well as tangible things; which reaches its absolute fulfillment in the spectacle, where the tangible is replaced by a selection of images which exist above it, and which simultaneously impose themselves as the tangible par excellence.” (Debord 36). As his essay goes on, the theme of commodity as described by Debord in this chapter specifically is the premise that the commodity which society examines in the spectacle as reality skews the unconscious mind and supersedes the basis of normal human needs. “ In a society where the concrete commodity is rare or unusual, money, apparently dominant, presents itself as an emissary armed with full powers who speaks in the name of an unknown force.” (Debord 41).

The commodity of the spectacle described by Debord is the “perfected denial of man” which has taken charge of the totality of human existences. (Debord 43). Corporations provide what we see, and the impact of society is to consume. “Corporations and even individuals within corporate media still exert greater power than any individual consumer or even the aggregate of consumers. And some consumers have greater abilities to participate in this emerging culture than others”. (Jenkins pg. 3) An example of this is with Apple products. Not only are they selling an IPod, but an IPhone and MacBook on the premise that life will be easier if you converge and have all three. With features like ICloud and ITunes, the consumer is convinced that by having all three life would be more adept and purposeful. The idea of the commodity of an Apple product is the technological influence to expand on more than one media platform. “Activities that use to be separate or cumbersome are now easier and folded into the media experience. These alter how we react with our media.” (Pavlik, McIntosh pg.9)

The Meaning Behind The Society of a Spectacle

                              The Meaning Behind The Society of a Spectacle

By Chinwe A. Onuoha

              The Society as a Spectacle, according to Guy Debord is as follows:

“The spectacle is the flip slide of money. It, too, is an abstract general equivalent of all commodities. But whereas money has dominated society as the representation of universal equivalence –the exchangeability of different goods whose uses remain uncomparable –the spectacle is the modern complement of money; a representation of the commodity world as a while which serves as a general equivalent for what the entire society can be and can do. The spectacle is money one can only look at, because in it all use has already been exchanged for the totality of abstract representation. The spectacle is not just a servant of pseudo-use, it is already in itself a pseudo-use of life,” (Debord, 49).

In other words, Guy Debord is trying to say that the society as a spectacle holds the same value as money because of the influential power that it holds. Money is what keeps the economy moving, but Durbord makes it clear that it's the advertisements that aim towards attracting the people that exist within the economy. The advertisements that we see on television, magazines or billboards, for example, evoke a sense of privilege and esteem –attributes that most American don't have.

For example, in the fall 2014 campaign for Balmain, the young women in this advertisement look extremely stylish, wealthy and modern –which is what most women would like to be. When women look at this advertisement, they will feel compelled to buy the clothes because of the message that it evokes when you look at it. In Debords essay, The Society of the Spectacle, he said that “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, Consumable survival must constantly expand because it never ceases to include privation. If augmented survival never comes to a resolution, if there is no point where it might stop expanding, this is because it is itself stuck in the realm of privation. It may gild poverty, but it cannot transcend it," (Debord, 44).

When people look at advertisements and are captured by the message that it evokes (ie. wealth, power, etc…), people will feel the urge to buy those products in an effort to feel satisfied –despite what the consequences might be (poverty). For example, look at the iPhone 6 that just came out. Everyone is talking about it. All of the new features and its sleek designed has served as a central theme in everyone’s conversation. People have spent over one thousand dollars for the phone in an effort to live up to what having an iPhone 6 will suggest when other people look at it. This is what Debord was talking about in his essay when he said that “the spectacle is the moment when the commodity has attained the total occupation of social life. Not only is the relation to the commodity visible but it is all one sees: the world one sees is its world,” (Debord, 42).

Now that the way people receive media continues to change, “convergence doesn't just involve commercially produced materials and services traveling along well-regulated and predictable circuits,” (Jenkins, 17).  Now “our lives, relationships, memories, fantasies, desires also flow across media channels,” (Jenkins, 17).  With that said, we will continue to see ourselves as “specs” of society, our world view will continue to be blinded by what’s new and current instead of what we actually like.

Blog Post 1 - The Spectacle

  Society of the Spectacle is where two women in Los Angeles, CA sell eye wear seven days a week, according to the homepage they made for their website aptly called, Society of the Spectacle . Talk about irony. I'm not sure Guy Debord would approve of this use for Society of the Spectacle, then again the fact that they're selling glasses and how they spend the money they make would influence his decision. 

  "Exchange value is the condottiere of use value who ends up waging the war for himself." (Debord 46) These two women as business owners are wagging a war of their own for their own survival: 

The tendency of use value to fall, this constant of capitalist economy, develops a new form of privation within increased survival: the new privation is not far removed from the old penury since it requires most men to participate as wage workers in the endless pursuit of its attainment, and since everyone knows he must submit or die.

  Debord might even be proud and buy a new set of glasses.

  Chuck Palahniuk put it another way via the character Tyler Durden from the film Fight Club, "Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need."

The spectacle is the set of rules for - us - the cogs in the economy to abide by to keep our economy stable. "As soon as society discovers that it depends on the economy, the economy, in fact, depends on society." (Debord 52)

We all (hopefully) live under a roof and eat at least three meals everyday and in our daily lives we are constantly bombarded by advertising, making choices of what to buy and where to buy it. We are coaxed into making those decisions by the advertising media provides.

Where we get our media makes all the difference. This week I've been watching a lot of television and that means a lot of commercials which is something that I'm not really used to. I stick to Netflix and Interneting for my daily digest of media consumption. I don't like commercials and I avoid any form of advertising when I can.

Watching tv with my dad who is a regular watcher he even commented saying, "What's with the damn commercials? I've been watching twenty minutes of commercials." It's a strange feeling too, when a certain commercial comes on the screen and just seems to grab the attention of the entire room. I found that to be true with the new iPhone commercials but not so much with commercials for dish detergent. Probably because I'm not a dish detergents target demographic.

Media supports advertising and consumerism drives media. Depending on what your daily routine is you may ingest more advertising than others. "All that is conscious wears out. What is unconscious remains unalterable. But once freed, does it not fall to ruins in turn?" (Freud)

The consciousness of desire and the desire for consciousness are identically the project which, in its negative form, seeks the abolition of classes, the workers' direct possession of every aspect of their activity. Its opposite is the society of the spectacle, where the commodity contemplates itself in a world it has created. 

Propaganda in and of itself.

Matthew Cole

Professor Caçoilo

Convergence - Blog Post 1

24 - 9 - 2014

Guy-Ernest Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, Chapter 2 

Benjamin Gabe Nazario || Post #2 - Spectacles, Media, & Convergence

Gabe Nazario

Professor Caçoilo

Convergence - Post #2

23 September 2014

Spectacles | Media | Convergence 

A spectacle by definition is “anything presented to the sight or view, especially something of a striking or impressive kind” (Dictionary.com). Many people would argue that today’s society is a society of the spectacle. At first, this seems like it is a simple play on words. However, when you look closer you can see what this statement means. Among the people who have argued this would be Guy Debord, author of  “The Society of the Spectacle.” He describes our society as a society that has completely lost focus in anything other than spectacles. He believes that, “the spectacle presents itself simultaneously as all of society, as part of society, and as instrument of unification. As a part of society it is specifically the sector which concentrates all gazing and all consciousness” (Debord 3). Basically, we as a society tend to focus our consciousness on anything that becomes a worldwide spectacle. A spectacle in our time could be what happened in NYC during 9/11. This was an event that was seen worldwide, it required our gaze and our complete attention. Even though this was a sad time it was something that went viral around the world. It was something that the whole society knew about. This spectacle controlled several people’s lives as most spectacles do. This shows that we are truly a society of the spectacle.   

Debord goes a step further in his book, “The Society of the Spectacle,” and talks about how commodity can be a spectacle. He states, “The spectacle is the stage at which the commodity has succeeded in totally colonizing social life. Commodification is not only visible, we no longer see anything else: the world we see is the world of the commodity” (Debord 42). This is a big theme in his book, he shows us that commodity, which is essentially physical goods that someone can buy has taken over our society. It has become a spectacle, something that we gaze at and instantly desire. This is something far different from the 9/11 example above. This is a spectacle that someone wishes they had. This idea is still in full effect in today’s society. For example, I added a link at the bottom of a recent Axe body spray commercial. This is a product that is used to help men smell better, however this commercial creates a commodity as a spectacle. In the commercial there are several angels falling from heaven because they are so drawn to the smell of the Axe body spray. They finally find the man who has it on and they throw their halos away signifying that they are most likely going to do something unholy with this man, specifically because of the way he smells. This commercial which is selling a commodity instantly becomes a spectacle, because the viewer thinks that by buying this product they will be able to make any woman fall for them. Which is of course a blatant lie, but this is a current example of what Debord was talking about. In Henry Jenkins, “Convergence Culture” he speaks about media in general. He speaks a little about commodity taking over the society. But he touches upon the idea that our cell phones are not as they used to be, we use them for everything, we are completely and utterly addicted to them, we don't actually need all the features they gives us. But instead we desire them (Jenkins 16). These cellphones have become a commodity as a spectacle. So it is clear that this is something that is not just an idea from a man in the 1960’s but instead this is our lifestyle currently, especially in the United States.

            

We as a society need to understand that there is really no escape to this. If every citizen in the USA only bought what they needed our economy would landslide dramatically. So instead of trying to get around this idea that we as a society are completely controlled by spectacles, we should try to understand it more. All these temptations of commodity becoming spectacle are shown through media. We see so many things we want through different media platforms. We already know what we need in life; so in order to understand this more we need to learn the idea of convergence. Convergence according to John Pavlik and Shawn Mclntosh is, “the coming together of computing, telecommunications, and media in a digital environment” (Pavlik and Mclntosh 8). This is just the start of perhaps understanding media as well as understanding why commodity has taken over our lives. But this is a start that is well needed and will be appreciated in the near future.  

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EKLR894oMs

Benjamin Gabe Nazario 

Convergence 

Post #2 

September 23, 2014            

Chinwe Adaeze Onuoha Needs To Get Her Life Together

          

                My name is Chinwe A. Onuoha and I am a journalism major at Rutgers-Newark. Once I graduate in May 2015, I plan to return back to school to set my "plan b" in order -just in case all things fail. The last thing I want to hear my parents say is "I told you so." That is why I started building my portfolio in the summer of 2014 after sitting on a cloud of empty dreams for two semesters. 

               I won't go into what those aspirations were, but I made the decision to pursue journalism as a career. I am interested in writing about beauty, women empowerment, entertainment news, and my personal favorite - narratives. I have Professor Robin Gaby Fisher to thank for that. She taught me many valuable lessons that I have used in and outside of school, as far as writing is concerned. I just hope that the major publications that I apply to intern for will like my work enough to take me under their wing.

              I just don't understand why it's so hard to get a good internship nowadays. Should I get my cover letter proofread and signed by President Barack Obama? Should my resume be reviewed by J.K. Rowling? Perhaps Oprah Winfrey should mention that I'm the best intern candidate of all time on "Super Soul Sunday" and urge that "Cosmopolitan Magazine" hires me. I know that I sound extremely frustrated, but I haven't given up. I will continue to apply for internships (just not the little shitty ones) and dream big, like my mother told me to do all summer. After all, I would like a lucrative job after I graduate.

What I Feel Like Doing When I Haven't Received An Internship That I Wanted 

            I hope that this class will give me an idea of how I could set myself a part from the competition.  I want to manipulate this new age of media to my own advantage. I just don't know how to do that yet. I'll keep you all posted if anything happens. 

Here are some of my writing samples: 

1. http://benotedonline.com/the-need-for-more-diversity-in-fashion/

2. http://benotedonline.com/the-dangers-of-waist-training/

3. http://4chairchick.com/artist-captivates-natural-hair-community/

4. http://4chairchick.com/artist-salkis-re-finds-road-freedom/

5. http://rutgersobserver.wordpress.com/2014/05/13/former-track-star-turns-his-passion-into-reality/

     

         

What My Life Currently Revolves Around

Ulysses Achonye - The Man, The Myth, The Legend

My name's Ulysses Achonye and I am a journalism major and a music minor.  My dreams are to work either at a music magazine/website like XXL or Billboard.com.  I also wouldn't mind writing sports articles for ESPN or Nfl.com.  I am very opinonated on both music and sports so I would definitely be a great fit.

I'm an avid user of social media.  It has helped me greatly in my journey to my goals in life.  I recently tweeted out the dislike of an article on xxl.com, where a writer compared a new musician to a legend.  I thought it was too early to make such comparisons and tweeted the editor-in-chief about it.  She actually followed me, but has yet to say anything to me.  Twitter has also connected me to musicians.  LL Cool J followed me at one point and DM'ed how much I am a fan of his.  His response was and I will never forget it, "Peace and love."  I produce records, so I'm always looking for the next big rapper or house act and twitter has connected them to me and me to them.  The power of social media is unreal and I will continue to use it throughout my journey.  You can check out some of my music here: https://www.youtube.com/user/CocaineAudi0

Adrian's Introduction

My name is Adrian Nunez, I am currently a Senior here at Rutgers-Newark University. As a Journalism Major, I have run the gamut of News and Media education. I’m currently the Style Editor at Mass Appeal Magazine, which is based in SoHo. On the daily, I scour the internet for fashion content to write about for the site, along with sneakers and music. Hence, media and its consumption plays an integral part of my life everyday, as it is responsible for my well being and presence on the scene in New York City.

Some call me a style guru, I just call myself a connoisseur of fine apparel. I love music, films, good beer and even better food. Here’s a picture of me with Drake and my good friend Makonnen, who just signed to OVO. Fun fact: “Passing Me By” is my favorite song of all time.

http://youtu.be/QjsPG0Kspxo