Society Of The Spectacle Analysis

There was once a time when there were more simplistic views on life; where truth and justice prevailed above all and the main concerns of society were much more primitive. However, those times have long vanished and have now been strategically replaced by the commodity that celebrity culture fully encompasses. Guy Debord writes in The Society of the Spectacle, that the “spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation amongst people, mediated by images” (Debord, 4). By this, he simply means that the spectacle is constructed by the daily images devised by celebrities, reality television, and pseudo-events. And those images have altered and strongly influenced the way people perceive themselves and others, as well as the social

interactions between them. People have become so fixated on appearances and how things should be, that reality and what people want to regard as reality is often converged. Plagued by images that promote perfection and illusions, society is no longer able to comprehend anything less than that. The spectacle shapes our society and mediates our social relations through the facilitation with celebrity culture and overexposure of media as well as our fallacious conceived perception of reality. This can be proven by analyzing the very culture we reside in as well as examples including reality shows, celebrity culture, and politics; all whilst referencing works by Guy Debord and Chris Hedges.
Reality shows have grown in abundance, both in viewers and the amount of. However, our obsession with reality shows stem, not from interest, but rather from the fact that they make us believe that anyone can become a celebrity. This holds especially true as reality shows are becoming progressively more focused on the personal aspects, as “celebrities who often come from humble backgrounds, are held up as proof that anyone, even we, can be adored by the world” (Hedges, 29). All of our fantasies of belongingness, happiness, success, and validation, are fully projected onto the lives of celebrities, and we live vicariously through them. However, this projection eventually leads to comparisons in which we later feel insignificant, worthless, angry, and insecure in light of the perfection emitted by celebrities. Reality, begins to hit us, and we remember that we are not celebrities; no matter how the media tries to seduce us into thinking it. Chris Hedges, a Harvard graduate and an American journalist who frequently shares his views on politics and activism, writes in his book, “The Empire of Illusion, “the culture of illusion, one of happy thoughts, manipulated emotions, and trust in the beneficence of power, means we sing along with the chorus or are instantly disappeared from view like the losers on a reality show” (Hedges, 53). The rise of reality shows such as Big Brother and Survivor, only further exemplate our ignorant society. We become fully engrossed in shows which promote betrayal and the invasion of privacy just to create the illusion that we can be like them and we are like them. We begin to mirror the celebrities we see on television, because it becomes innate. And if we do not, we fade away just like the countless forgotten celebrities.
To elaborate even further, we have morphed ourselves to be like the celebrities we see on television as a form of justification.

We see that even celebrities are like this, so it becomes socially acceptable to be selfish or sociopathic. This is because “[reality shows] tell us that existence is to be centered on the practices and desires of the self rather than the common good” (Hedges, 32). The goal of a reality show is to acquire the sought after fame and wealth. Regardless of the method used to get to the end goal, people will do whatever it takes to reach it. This is why reality shows immensely influence the social relations we make in life. Seeing people on television doing these unnecessary and malevolent actions, it urges us to do the same; as if doing so, will help us reach our own end goal. And this is precisely what happens in the reality show “Survivor,” as Tina, Mad Dog Maralyn’s best friend, casts her vote to eliminate her, despite their friendship. It didn’t matter how strong their friendship was, when it came to winning, Tina paid no heed to Mad Dog. She states after her vote, that “it [had] nothing to do with [Mad Dog]. This vote has everything to do with a promise I made. I love you" (Hedges, 32). This sort of backstabbing betrayal is only further intensified by the magnitude of competition. Tina clearly could not prioritize her friendship with Mad Dog in a setting in which winning meant everything. She was blinded by the temptations of greed and the desire to be a celebrity. Another way to put it, is that “human beings [have] become a commodity in [the] celebrity culture… They are objects, like consumer products” (Hedges, 29). As a society, individualism has been cruelly thrown out for the pristine image celebrities are presented to us by the media. No longer do we value the unique individuals, we all want to become celebrities; manufactured to the point where we do not have an identity of our own. Celebrity images are essentially reflections of

our idealized selves sold back to us through commodities such as endorsements and television (Hedges, 48).
To probe further into the aspects of celebrity culture and its crucial influence in the existence of our misperceived illusions, Debord understands a celebrity as “a spectacular representation of a living human being” (Debord, 60). This cultural phenomenon is then perceived as a standard to live up to, whether through the form of imitation or admiration. An example of this is the current market economy, in which celebrity endorsements are always continuously generating profit. The products that celebrities tend to endorse are usually marketed as personal to deceive us into believing there is a sense of intimacy, albeit fake. People then begin to believe they can and will strive to be like the perfect spectacle that is known as a celebrity, due to the constant overexposure of media and television. We, as a society, choose to over glorify the existence of celebrities. The world revolves around celebrities and all aspects of their lives. The extent to which celebrities rule over our lives has become increasingly fueled by the media and television. To this, Hedges chides “we all have gods... [but] our culture builds temples for celebrities the way Romans did for divine emperors... In celebrity culture, the object is to get as close as possible to the celebrity” (Hedges, 17). Hedges then goes on to list examples of ridiculous items owned by celebrities which were sold at exponential rates. To common people, they think that by obtaining items owned by celebrities, they can somehow become closer to celebrities; as if miraculously they will gain their desirable traits. The matter of fact is that celebrities are perceived as idealized forms of ourselves in which we can only dream to become. They are coveted by the media and their existence is praised by people, while we, the common people, live in the shadows of the world.
Even things like politics cannot fully escape our culture that entirely centralizes appearance and image. We vote for the candidate that has the most positive image and the most convincing slogan. We vote for the candidate that we are most relatable to; the candidate that is able to make us feel as if we’re important. And this is entirely the propaganda's fault for tricking those that are functionally literate but choose to disregard their ability to read. Campaigns are built upon feelings rather than actions. Public image, perceived sincerity, and attractiveness goes a long way in influencing our choices to vote or support a particular candidate (Hedges, 45). Truth has become irrelevant, in the face of who has the most convincing campaign and slogan. As a result, our literacy is assaulted and we surrender our ability to think deeply about issues. Hedges explicitly mentions a list of the literacy levels of campaign speeches given in the previous years as an example to support his point, and there was a very notable decline. For example, “Lincoln spoke at the educational level of an eleventh grader [in his campaign speech]... [while] Bush spoke at a sixth grade level” (Hedges, 46). This clearly implies that with our changing societal focuses, presidential campaigns are being made to match the literacy levels of the voting majority. We are more swayed by emotions, than actual competency. Regardless, there is no denying that we have placed much more value in politics in the past compared to the present. Now, our politics are dominated by “style and story, not content and fact... Politicians have learned that to get votes they must replicate faux intimacy established between celebrities and the public” (Hedges, 46). And this rings especially true as we become more and more engrossed in a society that’s main focus is on celebrity culture and public image. People who live their lives captivated by celebrity culture do not logistically compare verbal debates against the presidential candidates, nor do they look at the level of education and experience they have. They are fixated on one thing and one thing only: the presidential candidate’s similarity to themselves. Is he one of us? Is the presidential candidate likeable? Very rare will people actually have an intellectual debate over the candidate’s policies and plans for the future. And in a way, the presidential candidates also conform to society’s wants, and adjust themselves to be the likeable candidate that everyone votes for.
Through Hedges’ book, he continues to exploit the many flaws prominent in our culture and society. The matter of fact is that our society places celebrities onto a pedestal, and that in turn leads to the over glorified culture we have today. No matter where or what, there is not a thing nor place that the spectacle does not impact, whether it be in one or many ways. As proven through the many examples shown, celebrities, reality shows, and pseudo-events play a larger role in society than most can even comprehend. It dictates our social relationships and the way we perceive reality. It induces us to act and think as if we were celebrities, and blurs our perception of whether things are right or wrong; acceptable or not. Much of our erroneous perception of reality and the people residing in it, can be pinpointed back to our constant exposure to media and celebrity culture. Even the most impartial things cannot withstand the powerful conformity effect it has. Politics, although supposedly bereft of such trivial factors such as celebrity culture and media, is still to a certain extent influenced. Candidates need to appeal to the mass voters before they are able to fight for their campaign, but even then, most of it is ignored in face of perceived sincerity and likeability. In the end, it all comes down to how we have grown into a society that chooses to value fallacies over reality.