The Indian Bolshevik

  Guy Debord's  La société du spectacle  ( The Society of the Spectacle ) (1967), is a polemical and prescient indictment of our image-driven consumer culture. He examines the “Spectacle,” the term for the everyday manifestation of capitalist-driven phenomena; advertising, television, film, and celebrity. Debord describes the spectacle as capitalism’s instrument for distracting and pacifying the masses. The spectacle takes on many more forms today than it did during Debord’s lifetime. It can be found on every screen that you look at. It is the advertisements plastered on the subway and the pop-up ads that appear in your browser. It is the listicle telling you “10 things you need to know about ‘x.’” The spectacle reduces reality to an endless supply of commodifiable fragments while encouraging us to focus on appearances. Debord observed that the spectacle actively alters human interactions and relationships. Images influence our lives and beliefs daily; advertising manufac...