The Spectacle and WW11

Explanation of The Spectacle:

"The Spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images." -Guy Debord

"The Spectacle is the existing order's uninterrupted discourse about itself, its laudatory monologue. It is the self-portrait of power in the epoch of its totalitarian management of the conditions of existence." -Guy Debord

Weekly Selfie: The Spectacle and Olga Mercedes Bautista

"The economic system founded on isolation is a circular production of isolation. The technology is based on isolation, and the technical process isolates in turn. From the automobile to television, all the goods selected by the spectacular system are also its weapons for a constant reinforcement of  the conditions of isolation of 'lonely crowds'." -Guy Debord

Bautista's works "Bonding with Plastic" and "Re-appropriating Nature" highlight how consumerism is detrimental to the environment in modern society. This connects to the point made by Debord that the spectacle isolates people through consumer products. In an environmental context, I believe this means that people have become alienated from the earth and the fact that everything they do affects it. Consumer culture has rendered acquiring products more important and much easier than conservation efforts. Although I personally feel concerned about the environment, I still participate in the type of consumerism that can harm it, such as buying bottled water and using plastic bags. This is why I decided to portray myself as a person "bonding with plastic" as opposed to the tree bark that Bautista uses. I think this shows the result of Debord's "isolation". As people become further isolated from each other and the planet, they become more and more involved with the products that are distracting them, and I have shown this metaphor by making it look as though I am becoming one with material objects, in this case plastic bags.