This will be a recap of my interpretation of the individual points made in Debord's "The Society of the Spectacle" (1968):
1. So, everything in today's society is spectacle.
2. So, we now exist alongside this parallel reality that is totally bogus and the complete inversion of real life. We've heard this one for years.
3. So, the biggest way we're being duped by this Society of Spectacle thing, is that it falsely brings us together. We all relate to and talk to eachother about what television shows and movies we're watching, what programs we're using, etc. It is a place where our most basic behaviors, longings, and emotions get magnified into a crystalized glitter parade. The reason this is deceptive is because our base behaviors, longings and emotions are rendered unrecognizable from their original state, and yet this is the version of these base feelings and desires that we view as the true universal forms of these experiences that everyone in the world has in common.
4. So, its not just a picture book on a coffee table, it's a picture book that dictates who and how we're supposed to talk to the people sitting around the coffee table. It isn't neutral, it actively engages with us and instructs us on how to behave.
5. So, this Society of Spectacle isn't the sole offspring of technology. It's not reality deliberately made over to be totally unrealistic. Rather, it is the byproduct of whatever we, as the human species is thinking and feeling. The spectacle is the inevitable exaggeration of our world view, like a folk tale that casts the staunch old woman across the street as a witch that wants to kill you and your children.
6. So, what Debord means by the 'mode of production' is basically a stand in word for civil society, its economics, manufacturing, etc. This parallel realm of spectacle, the more colorful version of our drab, overly complex lives, is what fuels the masses who hope to acquire some vestige of the reality shown on T.V. So, we're fueled by dreams that we dreamt up our selves, and we want to be rewarded with those same dreams. This madness came from us. And when we try to be savvy consumers wanting to make a heartfelt choice about what brand of toothpaste to buy, it won't matter, because the choice has already been made by the all powerful realm of spectacle. Society projected what sort of toothpaste it believed we should have into that parallel reality, and that parallel reality made versions of that vision available to us in our stores. So when we make a decision to by Tom's toothpaste, we're not making a choice. The spirit of the times has already made it for you.
7. So, there is this distance between the reality of who we really are, and how we are portrayed by the society of spectacle. This distance exists because the spectacle seems so different from our reality, which it is. But the truth is, its easy to loose sight of the fact that spectacle gets its ideas for movies and television programing from our everyday lives. But because spectacle, and television, looks so much better, we're convinced that our everyday lives can only aspire to the TV version of it, even though our real lives are original source material. So we're not giving ourselves enough credit. We each had a hand in writing Seinfeld.
8. So, you can't knock one without knocking the other. Sure, reality is more real than the spectacle, but it lends a lot of that reality to spectacle, not just in the form of inspiration, but because, when your producing a reality tv show, the crew has to really interact with each other. This lends that false reality a heavy dose of reality that almost seems to make task of producing a reality show seem important. And in a way it becomes important because people are literally living off the money they earn from such a silly thing. So its a give and take between the spectacle, the way it intrudes into our real lives, and then how we give from our doll drum lives the very real life toil that makes the spectacle possible. Its very cyclical, and according to Debord, the heart of our society is this back and forth give and take between the real and the unreal. It sounds like economics.
9. So, in this present system, things are so inverted that what we perceive as truth is actually false. Like, its wrong for people to be rich when they're are so many poor, but television shows the opposite, so the truth becomes, its true that their will always be rich and screw the poor. I think this is what he means.
10. So...forms of visual diversification are not real. And....don't forget, that the spectacle is a negation of life and even things like variety and choice are part of the same system.
11. So...you really can't talk about the spectacle, that alternate reality, without intimately knowing about facebook, or LOST, or all the other stuff. A person who isn't in the know about mainstream culture is perceived as socially irresponsible and a weirdo. Because its not just spectacle, it is a political social arrangement in which we live, so in a way, to not be on face book IS socially irresponsible. Bottom line, its going to be very tough to get out of this very pervasive matrix of existence.
12. So this passage confused me just a little bit. So I understand the the spectacle is generally regarded as the realm of entertainment and hollywood fairy tales that society adheres to, but having Debord suddenly bring up the possibility of the spectacles influence on the value system made me think of H.P. Lovecraft who's fringe writing was revered for its ability to delve into the unfathomable depths of human nature. So much of Lovecraft's writing was spent trying to describe the indescribable, and sometimes all he could do was fail to describe and apologize to the reader for not being able to do so. But it didn't matter. All he had to say was that something was beyond the realm of our earthly comprehension and, for a few brief moments, the reader would feel a sense of having more breathing room as he or she contemplated the possibility of something so different, so outrageous, that it wasn't broadcasted on television. So, I interpret point # 12 as the perceived values of what is appropriately right and appropriately wrong as shown on television. Anything outside that order is left to the fringe realm of anti-social horror writers.
13. We really love living in the Society of Spectacle. It is our reason for being.
14. May the fight for fame, fortune and fairy tale endings never end.
15. Long live the Society of Spectacle. It is our God.
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