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Commodity As Spectacle Rhetorical Analysis

528 Words3 Pages

Commodity as Spectacle: Rhetorical Analysis Chapter two, ‘Commodity as Spectacle’ from the book ‘The Society of the Spectacle’ written by Guy Debord is a well written and insightfully presented approach, as it relates to the notion of commodity. Commodity as presented by the author Debord, in a Marxist sense, represents any raw material or product that essentially can be purchased or retailed. However as Debord believes the concept of commodity has transcended in resent year, due to a constantly developing economy. The author details the perception needed to sustain an already developed society’s constant need to keep developing, also referred to as an advanced capitalistic society, is the paramount reason for the formation of a spectacle. "The spectacle is the moment when the commodity has attained the total occupation of social life"(Debord 42). The idea of spectacle can be seen as the top most layer of a capitalistic society. It represents the epitome of overall distortion in the understanding of commodity. Which is showcased with numerous examples throughout the chapter by the author. “The real consumer becomes a consumer of illusions. The commodity is this factually real illusion, and the spectacle is its general manifestation" (47). …show more content…

Only in this context does the reification produced a commodity relations assume decisive importance both for the objective evolution of society and for the stance adopted by men towards it…”(Lukacs 25) This quote essentially helps open reader’s understand to the concept of commodity. Furthermore it enhances the authors and the books overall ethos as it offers credibility to the argument and further persuades the reader by providing a strong bases for the

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