Thursday, September 19, 2013

The Society of a Spectacle

In the book, "The Society of a Spectacle," written by French Marxist and theorist Guy Debord in 1967, he makes it very clear that the spectacle is the general expression or  "a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images." (Debord 4) He speaks about the Economies need for the Spectacle to always be apart of our society because of the monetary value of advertisements on television given by the sender to relay a specific message to the makers and then the audience. This message reflects the reality of the current society but in turn it somehow becomes a false reality. Instead, "The spectacle cannot be understood as an abuse of the world of vision, as a product of the techniques of mass dissemination of images. It is, rather, a Weltanschauung which has become actual, materially translated. It is a world vision which has become objectified." (Debord 5)
This objectification fools the viewers into believing that everyone should own a vacuum cleaner, Caucasian women in the 1950's had to be the best homemakers, and that all African Americans lived in the ghetto, were on welfare and enjoyed using the term "Dynomite." 
In a similar situation today women of all backgrounds are being objectified today through reality television. Shows like The Real Housewives of Atlanta portray African American women as those that love to fight, call each other bitches, and are classless. Even with mansions, husbands, and children they still have not grown from what African Americans have fought so hard to change as an image to white america. The shows are staged and slightly scripted. The women know where they will be meeting for lunch, when the camera crew will be coming to their homes to film a specific topic but what happens when that topic is discussed is all up to them. 
This in turn makes them actors within the spectacle and the message that is being relayed is a false reality of the African American women as a whole. Why would white america want to put rich African American women on television as behaving badly as opposed to those that live in the ghetto? This is the part of the spectacle that cannot be understood but one does understand that the corporations are making a lot of money off of theses women. Their is ample space for advertisement in between and what "The eye in the sky" wants us to buy is fed to us like babies.
Another show that objectifies women is the show Basketball wives. The issues are the same but the interjection of hispanic women is added. These women were married to men like basketball player, Shaquille O'Neal and football player, Chad Ocho Cinco. one of the main characters, Evelyn Lozada, married Chad Ocho Cinco on the show and the marriage only lasted 4 months after a domestic violence incident between the two.  Now the reality is those that are courted and marry in the spotlight usually do not have successful relationships because the love that is discovered is intensified by the media attention. Evelyn Lozada was also the main instigator of majority of fights between the rest of the cast. The was she was depicted was not that of a role model on television but instead a classless hispanic woman who lucked up by dating a football player and became famous off of being a bully and a victim all at the same time.
It is disappointing that so many women sign on to subject themselves to such a false sense of reality. The world watches and reacts negatively and many look around and assume that they are a true representation of all minority women. This is all for entertainment and surly keeps the economy going through the implementation of advertisement, viewerships and ratings. Every player involved in the vicious disgusting game are all in it for the money.
Real House wives of Atlanta Fight-http://youtu.be/bCWA-Jj22-o 

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