Society of the Spectacle Juliet Davis奇观社会戴维斯朱丽叶.pptVIP

Society of the Spectacle (1967) Guy Debord Guy Debord (French)1931-1994 Revolutionary poet, filmmaker, writer (and alcoholic) Led the Situationist International group, which influenced the Paris uprising of 1968. His book Society of the Spectacle (1967) was a major catalyst. The idea was to create strategies for engaging in class struggle by reclaiming individual autonomy from the spectacle (influenced by Marx’s philosophies). In the 1970s Debord disbanded the Situationist movement, and resumed filmmaking. Interesting Facts: By 1994, Debord had grown increasingly pessimistic and committed suicide by shooting himself in the heart. His first book, Memoires, was bound with a sandpaper cover so that it would destroy other books placed next to it. What is the definition of “spectacle”? 1 In societies dominated by modern conditions of production, life is presented as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has receded into a representation. Do these ideas seem radical to you by today’s standards? Later in life, Debord said his ideas were more true than ever—so true that they were no longer even radical notions. Do you agree or disagree? 2 The images detached from every aspect of life merge into a common stream in which the unity of that life can no longer be recovered. Fragmented views of reality regroup themselves into a new unity as a separate pseudoworld that can only be looked at. The specialization of images of the world evolves into a world of autonomized images where even the deceivers are deceived. The spectacle is a concrete inversion of life, an autonomous movement of the nonliving. 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 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