Reading Reflection: Society of the Spectacle

Society of the Spectacle was a philosophical text written by Guy Debord in 1967 and was a critical and important text related to the Situationist theory. The mass media, or the "spectacle," is nothing but a vapid manifestation of filling society with consumerism; the text is critical of this and also follows along the lines of Marxism. Relating to the Situationists, a group of avant-garde artists led by Debord in the 1960's. The basic goal of the Situationists was to extend concerns onto social/cultural issues, and mainly to bring attention to the idea that society has become a shallow representation of mass media, or the "spectacle." The Situationists used a dérive method, which meant to stop daily activity and let the curiosity of the terrain surrounding them to learn about the current scenario. The dérive method was used in order to disrupt and break the current flow of daily life that was run by the spectacle. It was used to create a journey to dive into the daily life run by consumerism.