The Society of the Spectacle

Nadia Tavarez

Professor Cacoilo

Self I: As Image

25 November 2020

The Society of the Spectacle: 2020 Edition

    As our world becomes increasingly connected and more technologically dependent, our society becomes one of screens. We have grown accustomed to being surrounded by screens, bombarded by images and advertising for an ideal that supersedes reality. Such is the spectacle that Guy Debord discusses in his 1967 novel The Society and the Spectacle. Despite its initial publication date, its message transcends time and conforms to our current reality, especially during that of the COVID-19 era, to expose the truths of our society after the internet boom, and commentate on social alienation in the wake of the spectacle and social media. 

    Much of our current day society has evolved to revolve around social media. The way we interact with others and the world around us is primarily facilitated by the use of social platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Debord discusses this phenomena in his discussion of the spectacle, defining it as "not a collection of images; [but as] a social relation between people that is mediated by images" (4). Communication is driven by the use of social media, with users posting photos of the latest updates in their lives, showcasing their last vacation or their newest possession. John Berger also comments on this idea in Ways of Seeing, explaining "publicity is about social relations, not objects" (Berger 132). Alongside social media posts, advertising drives human interaction, seeping into our consciousness to become a permanent fixture in our lives. Take Figure 1 for example, Andy Warhol's painting of Mickey Mouse. The purpose of this work was to highlight icons in pop culture that defined whole generations. The spectacle that is the Disney franchise has cemented its position over time in the lives of modern day people. People, especially in my generation, have grown up on the characters created by Disney and companies like it, having our perspectives and understanding shaped by the messages portrayed by those moving images, and later forming relationships based on similar interests in those images. The spectacle shapes relationships between people, whether it's by facilitating communication based on images or defining the viewpoints and perspectives of generations to come. 

    The spectacle's continued influence on our lives is in part due to its presentation as a fixture in our society. As Debord explains, "the spectacle presents itself simultaneously as society itself, as a part of society, and as a means of unification. As a part of society, it is ostensibly the focal point of all vision and all consciousness. But due to the very fact that this sector is separate, it is in reality the domain of delusion and false consciousness: the unification it achieves is nothing but an official language of universal separation" (3). Social media platforms especially become their own haven for individuals to congregate and share, under the impression that their use of the platform will bring them closer to their families, friends, and even celebrities, when in reality these platforms only highlight the separation between people. Social media is often treated as yet another facet of daily life, when in reality it is its own separate sphere that influences reality. Instagram and Facebook often don't portray the reality of the lives of its users, but rather the ideal moments that make it seem like life is perfect. It fools individuals into believing the ideal shown on social media is reality, pressuring users to desire and portray a "perfect" body and life and in turn dividing them from relating to each other on a realistic level. Andy Warhol's works on Marilyn Monroe, as seen in Figure 2, touches upon this message. Marilyn Monroe is often portrayed as the figure of bodily perfection, as an ideal to strive for. In Warhol's work, he distorts her image by silk-screening it in different colors, highlighting how alien this perfection is, how separate it is from reality. 

    The focus of the spectacle on portraying perfection is also tied to consumerism, as "the first stage of the economy’s domination of social life brought about an evident degradation of being into having — human fulfillment was no longer equated with what one was, but with what one possessed. The present stage, in which social life has become completely occupied by the accumulated productions of the economy, is bringing about a general shift from having to appearing — all “having” must now derive its immediate prestige and its ultimate purpose from appearances. At the same time all individual reality has become social, in the sense that it is shaped by social forces and is directly dependent on them. Individual reality is allowed to appear only insofar as it is not actually real" (Debord 17). Berger explores a similar idea, describing how "the act of acquiring has taken the place of all other actions, the sense of having has obliterated all other senses" (Berger 153). The spectacle forces individuals to fixate on what they possess. In striving for a perfect life, you must wear expensive clothing, drive luxury cars, go on lavish vacations. Spend, buy, consume. The reality of your situation does not matter so long as you appear to be indulging in expensive habits. Andy Warhol's Ads Portfolio in Figure 3 emphasizes this message, with a focus on ads meant for products for people to purchase, from Chanel perfume to Apple electronics, both of which are still signifiers of luxury today.

    Alongside being used to forward a consumerist agenda, the spectacle lives to amplify the loss of physical connections beyond just a screen. This is especially true during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, where social media and platforms like Zoom are used to emulate in person connections. Debord explains that "the spectacle was born from the world’s loss of unity, and the immense expansion of the modern spectacle reveals the enormity of this loss. The abstractifying of all individual labor and the general abstractness of what is produced are perfectly reflected in the spectacle, whose manner of being concrete is precisely abstraction. In the spectacle, a part of the world represents itself to the world and is superior to it. The spectacle is simply the common language of this separation. Spectators are linked solely by their one-way relationship to the very center that keeps them isolated from each other. The spectacle thus reunites the separated, but it reunites them only in their separateness" (29). As we are all separated during this time, the spectacle magnifies this loss. Though we may try to reconnect with Zoom or Discord (as seen in Figure 4), this does not replace the value of in person connections and unity. The spectacle is what links us all together, but it is also what helps to keep us separated on a personal level, amplifying divides caused by distorted perspectives on reality, again caused by the spectacle itself. 

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Figure 4; Reuniting the Separated

Short Essay #2 Kiro Samuel

 Kirillos Samuel

Short Essay 2

Quotes by order of relevance to essay;

Propaganda, advertisement, media, entertainment and mass communication all play into the notion of The Spectacle. Many people gaze and admire these forms as mere pass time fun. However, these forms of outlets all have agendas from which the idea of the spectacle emerges. Therefore, what is the spectacle? The spectacle is a social relationship, it is “the boundary between life, media and consumer culture”. However, the spectacle falsifies reality and even though it serves the purpose of being a social relation it distorts views of reality, it creates an unreachable image that can only be looked at but never reached. In Guy Debord’s piece Society of the Spectacle, he highlights what the spectacle is and how it impacts the human race. The spectacle is presented as media, which revolutionizes society and becomes the spotlight in which people want to stand and be seen, however, this light is farther off than people realize. 

Quote # 4 – “The spectacle is not a collection of images; it is a social relation between people that is mediated by images.”

• In this quote, Debord explains to us what the spectacle is not, it is not a collection of images. This helps us see that it is not the object that is portraying the message but the message itself is in fact the spectacle. He says that it is the social relationship between people, he says this because whether people realize it or not, they are all connected in some way. They all enjoy looking at mostly the same things and are fascinated by the same materials. This is why advertisement and media work the way they do and that is because it is one object that’s tailored to appeal to millions of people all at the same time.

Quote # 3 – “The spectacle presents itself simultaneously as society itself, as a part of society, and as a means of unification. As a part of society, it is ostensibly the focal point of all vision and all consciousness. But due to the very fact that this sector is separate, it is in reality the domain of delusion and false consciousness: the unification it achieves is nothing but an official language of universal separation.”

• Debord suggests that the spectacle serves the society by trying to unite it. This is true in a sense that when people look at media and advertisement, they try to become that image that they see. They become disillusioned with the trend and begin to morph into what they see. This notion that if everyone is doing it then it is fine for us to do it as well, it becomes justification for specific ideologies and behaviors. However, as beauty is in the eye of the beholder the same is also true for interpretation. The image that is interpreted by one individual is interpreted differently by another and this becomes a common scenario since no two people are exactly alike in feelings and thoughts. This causes the spectacle to become obscured and the main intent of the creator is thereafter blurred. 

Quote # 12 – “The spectacle presents itself as a vast inaccessible reality that can never be questioned. Its sole message is: “What appears is good; what is good appears.” The passive acceptance it demands is already effectively imposed by its monopoly of appearances, its manner of appearing without allowing any reply.”

• The spectacle puts itself above reality but does not come with a disclaimer stating such a thing. He explains that it comes with a message of what appears is good, and what is good appears. This is a direct message to the consumer. The idea of what you see is the prize and if you want to be the prize you must appear to resemble what you see. These media outlets and advertising are only one-way conversations. They give you a message without giving you space for questions or comments. An individual may speak but they will never get a reply, and this is the exact essence of the spectacle throughout the ages. 

Quote # 29 – “The spectacle was born from the world’s loss of unity, and the immense expansion of the modern spectacle reveals the enormity of this loss. The abstractifying of all individual labor and the general abstractness of what is produced are perfectly reflected in the spectacle, whose manner of being concrete is precisely abstraction. In the spectacle, a part of the world represents itself to the world and is superior to it. The spectacle is simply the common language of this separation. Spectators are linked solely by their one-way relationship to the very center that keeps them isolated from each other. The spectacle thus reunites the separated, but it reunites them only in their separateness.”

• Media and propaganda only started out in times in which the world was at war. This allowed for such ideas to be formed and developed. In times of war, change happens and change and morphism is the very essence of the spectacle. During war, the spectacle told people that fighting was a sign of pride and only the strong can take up this task. It was the soul of unity, yet it boasted separation but through separation, it united people to fight which greatly affected the world from that point on and it has continued to shape and influence the world through its messages. 

Image 1- Kylie Advertisement for makeup lineImage 2 - Propoganda during WW2

Image 3 - Kehinde Wiley painting

           Image 4 - 7up Advertisement

Lesly's Short Essay

What is a Spectacle?      

Guy Debord’s book “The Society of the Spectacle”, the term for spectacle refers to advertising, television, film, and celebrity. Debord defines the spectacle as the “autocratic reign of the market economy”. Debord describes the spectacle as “capitalism’s instrument for distracting and pacifying the masses”. The spectacle can be in many more forms in this day and age than it did during Debord’s age and time. For example, it can be seen on the technology that we have today and the advertisements that are seen throughout your daily travels around the city you live on billboards, subways, and pop-up ads on your cell phone. For Debord, this had created an unacceptable time in our lives. In the book, he informs the readers how humans have become so co-dependent on technology that they have forgotten to do other things with their lives and enjoy their experiences. Debord continues his revelation on how the media and technology have claimed humans and not giving any clear suggestions on how to deal with this influence in our daily lives. Debord insists that action is needed to be taken if we are to return back to our lives before technology. In a world that has really been turned upside down, the truth is a moment of the false. (Chapter 1) Both ways of understanding it produces a similar interpretation. What Debord is saying, to my mind, is that what appears to be most true about the world is considered false.“The spectacle is not a collection of images; rather, it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images” (Chapter 1). The spectacle is significant because it changes social relations. The spectacle serves to distract us from society. The spectacle keeps us from even thinking about this relation. It affects and influences all of our relations with one another. All of our relationship ideals are shaped by the spectacle. “Economic growth has liberated societies from the natural pressures that forced them into an immediate struggle for survival, but they have not yet been liberated from their liberator (Chapter 2). The focus of the dynamic between the economy and media during the transition in society. It creates an appearance to generate a false sense of connectedness.“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.”(Chapter 2) Debord argues, our sense of reality is nothing more than an immense accumulation of spectacles. All that was once lived become mere representation. He considered a photograph to be a replacement for the real object. The lines of reality and non-reality have become so blurred in our society that a photograph can replace the real.

Berger Ch. 7 

1. 

Publicity is about social relations, not objects. Its promise is not of pleasure, but of happiness: happiness as judged from the outside by others. The happiness of being envied is glamour.

2.

Any work of art 'quoted' by publicity serves two purposes. Art is a sign of affluence; it belongs to the good life; it is part of the furnishing which the world gives to the rich and the beautiful.

 

 

 

Spectacle Essay #2 Jennifer

 What is the one thing that consumes our minds, our choices, our perspectives? It is something we see everyday. It's our television, newspaper, radio, advertisements, and phones. One word to describe the list is media. Media existed ever since the first recording technology has been ever made which could be the first radio, first advertisement, first television or first camera or anything that catches the eyes of the seeker. The author, Guy Debord developed a theory book called “The Society of the Spectacle”, which he defines spectacles as an automade market economy but also referred as the mass media that surrounds people in today’s society.  These changes the media has can take over our choices and strip us away from reality without anyone noticing. Even now society is being changed because of the media. 

Media is a false reality people want to believe is real but it’s not. The media always decorate and is always portrayed in a good light that people don't see the deficiency of the spectacle. Debord stated , 

“The spectacle grasped in its totality is both the result and the project of the existing mode of production. It is not a supplement to the real world, an additional decoration. It is the heart of the unrealism of the real society. In all its specific forms, as information or propaganda, as advertisement or direct entertainment consumption, the spectacle is the present model of socially dominant life”(Chapter 1, 6).

He is trying to explain the spectacle is there and present always because that’s it sole purpose to be there because that is how we establish it to be for example technology everyone has a television or telephone or computers. It's not part of our reality but most in the fantasy world like a decoration or a side of entertainment. It's like a world we wish to have or dream of but we cannot have because it's not our life. Media is the center of our fantasy. It is like the advertisements that sell out products for people to become skinny like the models who propose it. The media shows people the unrealistic and ideal image that cannot be reached. Question is why does the media overtake us? Media plays a dominant role in society because it's everywhere and coerced.

Media can be influential and that becomes a problem because it takes over people very quickly that persuades or changes our actions and perspectives. “The first phase of the domination of the economy over social life brought into the definition of all human realization the obvious degradation of being into having. The present phase of total occupation of social life by the accumulated results of the economy leads to a generalized sliding of having into appearing,” (Chapter 1, 17). The media persuades people to be rich like the celebrities that appear in television that are living their life traveling and wearing designer brand clothes that make people jealous. The media convince people that they have to have these luxuries to themselves. It;s better to have these things and people should be able to show it off. It is not only money that the media advertises but looks, fashion, and other materialized objects that make people want to have in their possession. 

The spectacle can be evil and bring out desires that have never popped into the head of people. “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”(Chapter 2, 53). The spectacle creates this sense of desire of greed toward humans. Greed is a negative trait by wanting things that the media advertises because it can influence and destroy people mentally or destroy them physically. Media can also talk and have negative comments toward celebrities, artists and others that don't fit the “spectacle standards”. For example the artist Jean Michel Basquiat had his artwork criticized and judged that it looked like children's paintings. For the artist he did not care what they said about his painting because it was his painting and he could decide whether it was good or not. In Berger it states,”How we think and feel does not easily correspond to the nature of the external world, yet paradoxically we understand ourselves through contact and continuity with the outside, with others." No spectacle can tell us how to feel inwardly or outwardly in situations or in other people's lives or artwork. It is hard to evade the media because of its persuasiveness but it is alway important to know that the media is just for entertainment purposes and not something to control our lives. 

The media informs us all the new trends and wants us to all follow their convincing ideas. Social media wants to unify everyone like fashion sense or to have the same conversation. For example artists that we learn in class we all have videos, news articles and information from the media to learn about them. There are opinions and ideas and speculations of each artist but it depends on the reader what they want to establish what to believe or what not to judge. In The society of the Spectacle it  describes “The spectacle, like modern society, is at once unified and divided. Like society, it builds its unity on the disjunction. But the contradiction, when it emerges in the spectacle, is in turn contradicted by a reversal of its meaning, so that the demonstrated division is unitary, while the demonstrated unity is divided.”(Chapter 3, 53) The spectacle would want to unify us to think like the media and to have the same judgements like the media. As said previously the media is not always right and the advertisements in the media can be twisted and wrong which for others could be great but for others it can damage their lives. An example that the media can change our lifestyles would be changing our lifestyle like the celebrities. While we change ourselves to fit in with the media then “then a new level of significance is added to our social experiences. We become self-consciously aware of the other’s importance in defining our own identity” (Berger ch 6). Changing who we are to the expectant of the media we lose ourselves and lose our identity. Artists sometimes get influenced by the media and get into drugs and alcohol or distractrous relationships while others don’t listen to the media and live their normal lives. 

The spectacle can be very beautiful and a great fantasy but it isn't the reality of life. We should not indulge ourselves into the fake and focus on the real.

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Genessy’s 2nd Assignment

 

FOUR QUOTES

4. The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images.

Explanation: The spectacle actively changes human interactions and relationships. Images influence lives and beliefs on a daily basis leading to new desires and aspirations.

5. The world already possesses the dream of a time whose consciousness it must now possess in order to actually live it.

Explanation: Individuals are already living in a time where they fantasize about a moment in which if they want to live in, they must own its existence. 

9. In a world which really is topsy-turvy, the true is a moment of the false.

Explanation: What appears to be most true about the world is based on the greatest falsity

34.  The spectacle is capital to such a degree of accumulation that it becomes an image.

Explanation: The visually striking performance is so huge that it becomes a display.

600WORDS

These theories connect to our present global pandemic in many ways. The first one of my choice states “The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images.” This can be closely related to our situation because as it means that the spectacle actively changes human interactions and relationships. Images influence lives and beliefs on a daily basis leading to new desires and aspirations which is accurate because what we see on the news and the media lead us to lessen our interactions which increases our desire of wanting a better life where there is no need to be afraid, the same way it is depicted in past photos. The second quote I chose from The Society of the Spectacle by Guy-Ernest Debord was “The world already possesses the dream of a time whose consciousness it must now possess in order to actually live it.” This quote exemplifies the fact that individuals are already living in a time where they fantasize about a moment in which if they want to live in, they must own its existence. This has an interconnection with the Covid-19 pandemic in a way in which individuals are living in their imagination. This quote also goes hand in hand with Joanne Finkelstein’s “The possibility of considering the world otherwise just to see where it leads”-57 No one wants to be in this situation where we have lost homes, jobs, and even family members. In order to be able to move forward in life we must internalize that somewhere someday better will exist. Guy-Ernest Debord also states, “ In a world which really is topsy-turvy, the true is a moment of the false,” which means that what appears to be most true about the world is based on the greatest falsity. This is not only relatable to the pandemic, but many things in life like gender specific roles and stereotypes which in the end turn out to be false. In relation to the virus, we are bombarded with so much information that we no longer know what to believe. It is unfortunate that it gets to a point where you start to believe in the wrong things or simply intake false suggestions. Last but most certainly not least, “The spectacle is capital to such a degree of accumulation that it becomes an image,” can be defined as the visually striking performance being so huge that it becomes a display as it is on the map. This global pandemic has become a worldly spoken topic that we have maps to depict the number of positive cases. 

Covid -19 has affected families in numerous ways. I thank the lord himself for protecting my family from horrific times and although we have all experienced hardships at one point during this pandemic we are still okay. The image that inspired me to write about these hard times was “The Call (2019)” by Kehinde Wiley. This painting speaks to me in so many ways and allows me to go in different directions as far as explaining its meaning. Here I see unity, which is what is needed in times like these, we must stick together to get through it together, I also see protection, no one can stand in the way of this what seems to be the mother of these two women. Nonetheless, I see gender roles, I see how these women seem to have roles they must obey in their culture. In this sense we can relate the image to John Berger’s quote, “A woman's presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her.” -64 It also gives me a drawback to Bell Hooks Quote in Understanding Patriarchy where it explains “Patriarchal gender roles are assigned to us as children and we are given continual guidance about the ways we can best fulfill these roles.”

I have uploaded a portrait of my sisters, mother and I to show the comparison among the other images. My image is supposed to show unity similarly to the other paintings of Kahinde Wiley. My photograph analyzes the concept of the spectacle and its effect on us today in numerous ways depending on how the pandemic has affected you and your family. In my case we chose to stick together to get through the hard times with money and food. Without each other things may have turned out differently. 

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Short Essay #2 - Fransheska Larios

The spectacle, a term to refer to society’s dependence on an image has been more prominent with today’s use of technology. Society has fallen victim to being controlled by the likes of what the spectacle consists of. Our reliance on the spectacle has become as true as Guy Debord suggested within his work “The Society Of The Spectacle”, a speculation that society would-be victim of the spectacle invading everyday lives through the use of image, advertising, and in our current case, technology. 

We are no longer independent when it comes to choosing what to wear, or even what to buy. The spectacle has become our source to rely on as we make decisions. Through advertisement, social media, and other sources of images the spectacle comes into play as it shows us a desirable path for us to take. As Guy Debord suggests within his first chapter is the idea that images don’t just control one group of individuals but all of society. “The spectacle is not a collection of images; it is a social relation between people that is mediated by images”(4). As suggested the spectacles aren’t just advertisements that are aired for the main source of entertainment, or Instagram photos that are posted for the sake of memory keeping. Every form of an image is stringed together in a way that provides movement in society. Individuals are the ones to provide more life to these images and as so we as a society become obsessed with the idea of living these fantasies we come up with. “Understood in its totality, the spectacle is both the result and the project of the present mode of production. It is not a mere supplement or decoration added to the real world, it is the heart of this real society’s unreality...the spectacle is the cause from our dreams”(6). Guy Debord blames society as the culprit for creating the spectacle and then becoming a victim of its distractions and illusions. The spectacle, in the end, is the creation of our desired lives. When an advertisement is displayed the viewers do not get a glimpse of life like theirs but a luxurious one that they desire to be in. An Instagram post is an image of what individuals desire others to see but not an honest depiction of their lives. 

The spectacle is not only made up of different forms of materialistic images but we are also at fault for further fueling it. Not only do individuals continue to fall in the hands of the spectacle but groups of individuals also take part in being the spectacle. The most evident group is that of those with fame. Celebrities are mentioned within the later chapters of Guy Debord’s work,

“Stars — spectacular representations of living human beings — project this general banality into images of permitted roles. As specialists of apparent life, stars serve as superficial objects that people can identify with in order to compensate for the fragmented productive specializations that they actually live. The function of these celebrities is to act out various lifestyles or sociopolitical viewpoints in a full, totally free manner...Celebrities serve as a source of hope, that one day our desired lives will come to life because these famous people have what we want”(60).

Celebrities further enhance the work of the spectacle in a variety of ways. Beginning with films, which often narrate adventurous, romantic, and in general different forms of the desired lifestyles that many wish to be a part of. Films are just a part of a celebrity’s work with the spectacle, another form is the celebrity’s life in general. Someone with fame is typically seen with wealth and admired by many for their work and or looks. In this case, individuals who are not within the category of “famous” look up to these individuals and see fame as a gateway to their desired lives. Fame ends up being the hope that this imagined world we live in is in fact real. The problem derives from acknowledging that fame is not the key to “happiness” and in most cases the public is only given glimpses of these individuals’ lives. We see what we want to see and tend to want to recreate the lives of others into ours. Joanne Finkelstein within her text The Art of Self Invention provides insight on the dilemma of identity, “Individual identity can be constituted through such associations, as the fleeting parade of fashioned images provides us with a ‘look’ we can adopt. The image, however, is not always obedient and cannot be relied upon to sustain the encoded messages.” As individuals, we rely on the spectacle to feed us with more insight into what we want to see, an aspect that will validate the imagined world we have come up with. We take anything we see that looks “great” in our eyes and turn to recreate it in any form to follow this imaginary path that we have set up. In summary, we are idolizing lifestyles and craving something unrealistic in the world we live in. 

If we created the spectacle how is it that the spectacle applies to all individuals? Although the spectacle can vary within views depending on the individual the bottom line is that a spectacle is a form depicted through images that all see and were created with the base of attraction and desire. John Berger within his text Ways of Seeing further explains this, “Yet although every image embodies a way of seeing, our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing.” All individuals have a desired form of life, and while it started as perhaps a goal to reach in the future the spectacle created by that ignition has collided with society to further nourish our fantasies about life through the use of the image. However, Guy Debord is clear when he points out that this spectacle no matter how pleasing it looks is a fiction of our imagination and essentially false. 

“...At the same time, all individual reality has become social, in the sense that it is shaped by social forces and is directly dependent on them. Individual reality is allowed to appear only insofar as it is not actually real.” - Society has created a make-believe world, we are so into the idea of recreating our dream world that we often forget what reality is really like”(17).

It is a must to remember that all that we perceive through the media is fantasy, and not in any way close to the likes of reality. Society does not seem close to waking up from this illusion until the spectacle comes to an end. But how do we end something that we created? Do we as individuals turn to the media and reject their ideologies? Do we have to grow more confident in the circumstances we live in and quit comparing our lives to others? In my opinion, for the spectacle to end society needs to quit molding us into what the norm is, and should adopt a more accepting culture. However, we as people will also need to go through a change to accept these terms by first leaving behind this ‘dream world’ we have created.

Despite Guy Debord basing his text within a society, he lived in several years from where we stand now, there is no change in the way society functions. Technology has come to enhance the ways of the spectacle and in a way stray us further away from an honest lifestyle. While analyzing the work of Guy Debord the first artist that comes to mind is Cindy Sherman, an artist who experimented with identity within her work (See Figure 1).  She uses herself to depict different personas other than herself. When looking at her work beside the ideas of Guy Debord we can see how easy it is to take the form of someone else in a society where a mold for everyone exists. Most importantly how does this ideology of the spectacle affect us during the time of a pandemic? The spectacle is a source of images through different sorts of media that encourage us to follow a trend or anything that we find attractive. With a pandemic in the picture, the spectacle becomes insufficient to move us to rely on it during this time. I believe that while being quarantined we are situated in a position where we are away from others and as so there is no need to impress them and create a false facade if there is no one else around us but ourselves and the people we are living with. While we do have technology to fuse us with ideas, they become irrelevant when health is an issue that stands with more importance at the moment than anything else. 

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Selfie 

Kirillos Samuel Self Portrait Project #3

Kiro Samuel 

    For this project, I was inspired by the artwork of Kehinde Wiley and Andy Warhol. These two artists’ work is unique in their own way and is very identifiable through the style in which the artist presented most of their work. My project takes the soul of these two artists and presents them in one collage. Using the pattern from the Marilyn diptych by Andy Warhol with the flowery colorful background that is infamous with Kehinde Wiley and combining the two to create a project that paid respect to both these great artists. Advertising and fashion play a role in our society because it is meant to be appealing to the viewer and make the viewer want to become whatever the fashion in the advertising is. It is a way to display what is popular and what is currently trending. Back then Andy Warhol used this to sense by displaying famous celebrities in the artwork he portrayed. It could have been to use their image for what we call now as “clout” but this style of putting famous people and items in his artwork created an audience for him rather quickly. Alongside his famous vibrant colors and repeated patterns, Andy Warhol became synonymous with the artwork he produced. Kehinde Wiley created his own sense of fashion to advertise his artwork and that consisted of beautifully thought out backgrounds and flowery prints. This made his artwork pop in a sense that was unique to him and created a style of portraits that even caught the attention of President Obama when he had finished his term in office and gave Wiley the honor of being the first African American artist to paint the presidential portrait in honor of the leaving President. My project consists of 3 images, with portraits of myself in different poses and colors to imitate that of Andy Warhol and flowery vibrant backgrounds to imitate the work of Kehinde Wiley. This project speaks to the different times in my life, times when I had to stop and think. Times when things turned black and dark and then times when these times made me smile and look at life in different colors. 

Quotes:

1.) “When the real world is transformed into mere images, mere images become real beings-figments that provide the direct motivations for a hypnotic behavior.”

2.) "The proliferation of images and desires alienates us, not only from ourselves but from each other. 

3.)  "This achievement of advertising brings into focus the question of how influential the visual landscape is in describing every day."

4.) "The Spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images."

Kehinde Wiley, President Obama Portrait (2018)

                                  Andy Warhol, The Marilyn Diptych (1962)

Kiro Samuel (2020)

Marina's SHORT ESSAY II

What are you following?

                I have created this selfie to follow the Spectacle, in the picture, this is comfortable sweat pants and t-shirt but they are not fashionable. So, the question is if people will follow their comfort and wear them or care about other people’s approval and wear fashionable clothes to make other people happy. I inspired by Barbara Kruger when she created this selfie as she mentioned before that can people make their comfortable the priority or they will be waiting for other people’s approval. 

Guy Debord reading 

The first quote I picked from the reading was, “Images influence our lives and beliefs on a daily basis; advertising manufactures new desires and aspirations. The media interprets (and reduces) the world for us with the use of simple narratives. Photography and film collapse time and geographic distance — providing the illusion of universal connectivity. New products transform the way we live.” This quote was meant that the Influence shapes our beliefs and the way the world provides the information to us influence us. Such as marketing who usually find their ways for certain target audience. Nowadays, fame is more importance than the value of anything one might actually be capable of doing. So, fame became over the artist identity so their fans see what they want, not what they really are. The celebrities have to think before doing anything because of their fans reaction if they will like it or not. Just like my selfie of the sweat pants and t-shirt, which are not fashionable but comfortable. I either choose to be comfortable and wear them or care about people’s approval and wear something that fashionable and will be liked but not comfortable. 

Another quote is, “The spectacle was born from the world’s loss of unity, and the immense expansion of the modern spectacle reveals the enormity of this loss.” So basically, spectacle was made to unit people together and make them share their goals and work hard together to reach them. Even if it failed in reality to unit people because it only represents a part of the world not the whole. But it will be united when people outside the spectacle work on themselves and reach their common goal by the end of the day such as in my selfie, when people watch the selfie, they will make their comfortable the priority and people’s approval will come after that.

In addition,” Separation is itself an integral part of the unity of this world, of a global social praxis split into reality and image.” this shows that people should work hard to achieve what possessions they want to balance reality and image. Such us seeing an expensive thing they want in a picture and work hard to get it or take a picture with an expensive something and work to make money and get it to balance their images with reality. Like in my selfie, people are separated into two groups, some likes being comfortable and happy in a sweat pants and t-shirt no matter how others will see it, and other will care about fashion and people’s approval no matter if they feel comfortable or not.

Lastly, “What appears is good; what is good appears.” this is just like celebrities’ lives, in their pictures they look happy and good but in reality, they don’t have to be happy as they look in the picture. They show the happy side to their fans and never show what behind it. Like in my selfie, the outfit looks unfashionable but in reality, it is comfortable, which is better than fashion.

To conclude with, I have picked 4 photos from the artist we learned that work with my four quotes and selfie about being comfortable better than caring about fashion because of people.

                            Images influence our lives                         The unity of this world

                                    Loss of unity                         What appears is good; what is good appears

Berger ch 7 - 2 quotes

• We are now so accustomed to being addressed by these images that we scarcely notice their total impact.
• Publicity is the culture of the consumer society. It propagates through images that society's belief in itself. There are several reasons why these images use the language of oil painting.