Society of the Spectacle

Still, without TSotS Vaneigem's brilliant Revolution of Everyday Life could never have the resonance it does, so credit where it's due - and GD did invent pyschogeography as a discipline...


A thorough-going deconstruction of modernity   August 1, 2000
 23 out of 27 found this review helpful

As trenchant as Foucault and as dogmatic as Wittgenstein, rarely has a work of political or cultural criticism provided such a thorough-going and penetrative exposition of the modern world's formulation of life as commodity. Debord's approach is refreshingly independent of conventional leftist thought, owing little to the positivist teleolgy of Marx of the ruralistic utopianism of Kropotkin. Though not without its faults, especially his sometimes confused and overly 'clever' prose, Debord's work is a true modern classic, a revolutionary text for the consumer age. Far from seeming dated it becomes more relavent with time - witness the growth of surrogate programming (gardening programmes, cooking programmes and 'fly-on-the wall' documentaries) of fabricated experience as commodity. I reccomend this book to anyone who feels bemused by the banality of everyday life.


A truly SPECTACULAR piece of cultural theory (boom, boom!)   February 28, 2000
 24 out of 29 found this review helpful

Absolute genius. A lucid, miraculously acute dissection of the true nature of consumerism and commodity culture, which seems even more pertinent today, what with the ever-spiralling drive towards globalisation and the free market. Debord is wonderfully dogmatic, yet the cogency of his argument mean that we have no problem whatsoever in being spoonfed. But, be warned *THIS BOOK COULD CHANGE YOU LIFE* This book truly removes any blinkers, and exposes you to a world turned on it's head, mediated by this sinister, over-arching Spectacle. Also, from a literary point of view, it is very easy to become enmeshed in Debord's epigrammatical style, and certain passages need to re-read for full comprehension. As a result, THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED, and is not, I repeat not, A LIGHT READ! Laid out as a compendium of ~200 theses, vaguely resembling a series of (ultra-cryptic!)crossword puzzles, it includes discussion of (to list but a few points) the cult of celebrity, out-of-town shopping cenntres, festivals, holidays et al. as well as a huge no. of more conventional topics for analysis (e.g. the proletarian class, time, urbanism, marxist discussion etc. etc.) So, overall, a brilliant elucidation of Situationist theory. It has changed the way I think, and it is no over-estimation to say the way I live as well. I just hope that Debord's masterpiece is re-discovered in a big way over the next few years REVOLUTIONISE EVERYDAY LIFE. LIVE WITHOUT DEAD TIME.