<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, No Backstage Passes
Review: The book at first seems a slip down a few notches from S.O.T.S. because it is shorter and Debord seems a lot less interested in his topic, or getting us interested in his topic. Who can blame him?But the brevity of the book makes sense when you realize this--RE: the spectacle, 1) see S.O.T.S. 2) take a look around you from your reading chair 3) ask, what are the few changes in 20 years? 4) write a brief and get back to lived experience. Some highlights: The integrated spectacle combines the diffuse, subtle domination of that system which goes by the label "liberal democracy" with tactics practiced by the concentrated, dictatorial mode of the spectacle in past communisms and facsisms. Which means: today, the rulers of the integrated spectacle dictate/script the appearance of an ever-unfolding narrative/fantasy of liberal democracy, complete with all the nitty-gritty details, plot twists and turns, shocking surprises, and pleasant mysteries at which to gawk and gasp and coo. Caravaggio would be jealous of such veristic, theatrical bravado! But what is really happening is something else altogether, hidden behind the misinformation and unverifiable information in the spectacle. Terrorism is the invented enemy of the perfected, integrated, yet fragile spectacle, which needs an external enemy, seemingly worse than itself, in order to look good and survive by comparison. Secrecy is everywhere and yet we accept it in passing (our state of alienation conditions us to know nothing about too much anyway, so secrecy seems natural, almost a relief from concern). Is anyone asking: Do we need to know anything more than what we are told by the spectacle? Is is even possible to know more? ".....Eddieeeee, anoootherrr drinkkkkk!!!...." Experts do our thinking for us, or at least we are not given enough information in a condition of generalized secrecy to make up our own minds. Experts are intercessors, like priests of old, who stand between us and the spectacular governments with their ultimate knowledge of what's really up in the universe. And we must respond to their statements, which can be lies or truths (but we'll never know), with FAITH, since government usurps the position formerly held by God. Finally, the integrated spectacle has made a whole new method of government possible. Debord wonders if the rulers of the spectacle have yet to realize what they can do with their new spectacular tools? Will the possiblilites become apparent in a flash of lightening? How will we spectators know if and when this has occured?
Rating: 
Summary: Quite Fascinating
Review: When I was originally assigned this book in my Western Civ class, I was fully prepared for this to be another uninteresting book that the professor for some reason was going to make us read. My assumption was completely incorrect however. Not only was Debord's book easy to read, but also it was incredibly interesting. His point of view is especially interesting to any American I believe because of his French viewpoint. It is an excellent experience for any American to interact with other countries and their cultures, and though I am not much of a French fan, Debord does it right. He begins by outlining three basic spectacles that are found and then dives completely into the integrated spectacle, a French/Italian model of ideology that differed from Russian/German and American models. Though not even one hundred pages in length, the pages pack an impressive punch that no reader can deny. In order to understand what I am speaking about, you should do yourself a favor and grab a copy of Debord's work. You do not have to agree with what he is saying to gain from the experience.
<< 1 >>
| 
