English 118ss - Colloquium: Topics in Writing-Society of the Spectacle
Colq: T-Society/Spectacle
Fall
2021
06
4.00
Torleif Persson
M W 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
Smith College
ENG-118ss-06-202201
Neilson 209
tpersson@smith.edu
In a seminal 1967 book, French philosopher Guy Debord suggests that capitalism uses “spectacle”—think: Times Square, your Instagram feed, CNN—to colonize every facet of social life and human experience (and to distract us from that very fact…). In this course, we will use Debord’s ideas as a starting point for analyzing contemporary culture under the encroachment of late capitalism. What happens, for instance, when humans start to think about themselves as brands? How should we react to the commodification of social justice in advertising campaigns? What does the spectacle obscure? How might we escape or find respite? (E)