Society of the Spectacle, Situationists Review

Situationists

            The Situationists included people in the movement in which the world around us, more so the modern world, is questioned. Technology, capitalism and predisposed ideas of how the world should be, are what gets this movement noticed. These are all ideas that spark and provoke the idea of revolution in mankind. By exposing the world around us for what it really is and showing what it is turning into, people are drawn to this and almost have the urge to join in.               

            Instead of accepting the world around us and adapting to it like we are always told to do from a young age, the Situationist’s idea is just the opposite. Question everything, expose it to the world and show what is really going on so that the world can make their own decisions. In, Perspectives for Conscious Alterations in Everyday Life, by Guy-Ernest Debord, he says, "To fail to criticize everyday life today means accepting the prolongation of the present thoroughly rotten forms of culture and politics, forms whose extreme crisis is expressed in increasingly widespread political apathy and neoilliteracy, especially in the most modern countries," (Debord). It is important to question the world around you, and not to accept everything but to have your own voice in society. One of the clearest examples and a personal favorite that we reviewed of this was the Yes Men. Although this movement began in the 1900’s, it is timeless in the fact that it can still be successfully done and relevant even now. The Yes Men, create websites that look like big actual companies that are in the wrong in some way or another usually. Then, people hire them to come speak at big hearings, conventions or even a very public news cast. Then, that is when their performance starts, throwing these companies under the bus, or exposing them. However, it is done in a hilarious way and witty. Although I am sure they have had many legal battles with what they are doing, some companies do not even want to fight back, because then they would have to discuss the point that the Yes Men hit on to begin with.

            The Situationists are needed in the world. Especially today where the modern world full of technology and capitalism are taking over. The idea of accepting and adapting is ignorant, the world should be questioned, and the Situationists take that leap and make others more comfortable with the idea as well.