Debord's influence to other media research.

Debord's views concerning the spectacle have more recently been taken by others for their own research in their own particular field within the media.
One such example I have came across is Hanson's research into the culture surrounding celebrity chefs as media products, and food on the television and on the internet in the article Society of the appetite: Celebrity chefs deliver consumers. Hanson (2008) has used Debord's work as guidance as he claims that Society of the Spectacle 'offers a Marxist economic analysis of an increasingly image-dominated culture.' (p.50)   He then goes on in the beginning of his article to say: 'The theoretical framework for my discussion derives in part from The Society of the Spectacle (1967), in which Guy Debord (1931–1994) argues that our consumption of images—what he broadly terms the spectacle— informs hegemonic power structures by distracting us from actual social and material needs.' (p.50) Hanson has taken Debord's own ideas concerning consumerism in the media and in the capitalist marketplace to support his own idea for the media encouraging the literal consumption of food, as well as the consumption of images and 'spectacles'. Hanson concludes his article with the lines 'This only means that the spectacle—and the society it feeds—is stronger than ever. Celebrity chefs deliver consumers.' (p.65) Not only does Hanson use Debord's theory to support his own research, but also supports Debord's theory and claims it is as strong and true in the modern day as it may have been at the time Debord published his thoughts.

How Debord has influenced other scholars

Guy Debord's theories when first published, were relevant to increasing capitalist markets and the growth of the new, emerging media. Today, Debord's theories have been applied by many to ideas surrounding the internet. Many thinkers have been influenced by Debord and how his theories from the 1960's and 70's can be applied to modern day.This has been outlined in the article Psychogeography, Détournement, Cyberspace (Elias, 2010): 

Today, theoretically informed advocates and devotees of the Internet and Web 2.0 often draw correspondences between the SI's redefinition of city space and the redefinition of cosmopolitan space currently taking place in virtual realities...cybercultures sometimes adopt the term "psychogeography" to describe what happens when one travels through the World Wide Webb (WWW) landscape, applying SI concepts to the entirety of virtual space on the web.

Debord's theories which were once applied to the changes of reality, have influenced others to see the different reality involved in the internet, as reflected above.  In the same article the negativity of this is also reflected:

If anything, the web is increasingly part of the spectacle rather than a challenge to it. Like the postmodern city, the WWW has become naturalized as a dehumanized space of commerce, work, and diversionary entertainment; like urban territory, it now cordons off "neighborhoods" and gated communities that effectively limit wandering.

The writer of this article is of the opinion that the internet is encouraging the 'lonely crowds' discussed in an earlier blog, rather than being a positive contribution to society. 

However, other scholars also influenced by debord's ideas, take a more positive stance. In the article Oppositional politics and the internet: A critical/reconstructive approach (Kahn R; Kellner, D, 2009) saw Debord as promotional of the use of technology to  communicate media.  

Debords' contribution to the media

As a socialist, Debord was against the mass production involved in capitalist markets, including that of the media. This is made clear as he refers to it as ‘weapons’ in Society of the spectacle, which he says the ‘spectacular system chooses to produce’. (p.32)

Media giants choose to produce certain products because they will be most appealing to the audience it targets, yet it is clear they are only produced to make money. Debord highlights it is the 'reigning economic system' (p.32) which creates these goods. Debord also talks of the 'knowledge industry'(p.128) becoming the driving force of American economy. Our study group believe that the knowledge industry could refer to the informative nature of the media. We found it interesting that it was referred to as the 'knowledge industry'. The idea of making knowledge, a skill which costs nothing, into an industry, shows the power and monopolisation of capitalist corporations. 

Debord worried about the influence this may have on society. While media conglomerates are making money, people within society go from individuals into mindless consumers. Even the word ‘society’ begins to be used in very generalist terms. There is a loss of communities. Instead, in the modern western world, all communities have been moulded into an overall society. 

Debord also influenced the media through his filmmaking career. Debord’s films such as ‘howls in favour of Sade (1952)’ cam be seen as fitting in with the avant-garde experimentation at the time, however, they also act to highlight his political opinion. Debords’ films are described as “Marxist cinema set not so much on revolutionising the medium as on appropriating the medium in order to revolutionise the structure of life itself.” (R.D. Crano in Senses of cinema, 2007)

society of the spectacle.

Debord's most influential piece of work was 'Society of the Spectacle', first published in 1983. 

In the first lines (p.24), Debord presents the reader with the basis of his ideas, which is that in modern capitalist society, life "presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles." He goes on to say that everything has "receded into a representation" Debord gives the idea of a loss of individuality, and people instead becoming fused into a "common stream" due to modern society.

Throughout the book each point that Debord makes is numbered. Our study group picked up on point 28 (p.32): 

"The reigning economic system is a vicious circle of isolation. Its technologies are based on isolation, and they contribute to that same isolation. From cars to television, the goods that the spectacular system chooses to produce also serve it as weapons for constantly reinforcing the conditions that engender “lonely crowds.” 

The juxtaposing idea of 'lonely crowds' is one of particular interest, as well is the idea of a 'vicious circle of isolation'. This can be seen in modern society as people are dependent on media outlets and have therefore become less sociable and isolated themselves in the media, which has became the norm in modern society. This becomes a vicious circle as there is no escape from the media, it is constantly produced and surrounding everyday life. 

part 187 of 'Society of the Spectacle' also reinforces this idea of isolation, as Debord writes "the language of communication has been lost"(p.124). However, in my study group, we believed that in many ways, new media outlets increase communication. news channels on television allow news to be communicated to the public quickly, and the internet has given people a freedom of speech which was never available before. This freedom gives individuality, implying that media has actually increased individuality rather than taken it away as Debord believed. 

who is Debord

Guy Debord (1931 - 1994) was a French theorist, writer and filmaker who was heavily influenced by Marxism. He was concerned with the capatilist control of governments and of the media over everyday society through growing mass production and mass consumption.
He wrote the pamphlet 'Report on the Construction of Situations' which was the founding manifesto for the revolutionary organisation Situationist International, a group with ideas rooted in Marxism which promoted the idea of fulfilling primative human desires, and living alternatively to capatilist order. Situationist International aimed to construct situations which were disruptive to social norms. In order to undermine consumer society, vandalism, strikes and sabotage were encouraged. Situationist International saw it as their responsibility to make clear to the mass population the impact of the consumer society they lived in. Their aim was to be catalysts in a new revolution against capatalist order,  however, the group disbanded over tactical disputes in 1972. Their ideas however, continue to have a lasting influence on art, politics and philosophy.
Debords best known work is 'Society of the Spectacle', in which Debord highlights that due to capatalist ideals and control of the growing media people in society become representatons rather than individuals, and 'psuedo - needs' have been created due to mass consumption.
Society of the Spectacle was extremely influential, particularly to student rebellions in 1968, and many quotes from the book were used for graffitti in and around Paris at the time.
Debord continued to exert influence, writing The Game of War in 1987 and Commentaries on the Society of the Spectacle in 1989. In 1994, he commited suicide Champot, Upper Loire. Only after his death did he achieve celebrity status in France.