Spectacle, communication and communism in Guy Debord

Abstract

The present work is oriented by the hypothesis that Guy Debord's reflection on language and criticism of the commodity fetishism are inseparable aspects of a single and same point of departure of the critique of "the society of the spectacle", centred on the criticism of language and commodity-form. Debord holds the view of a transition, concerning the horizon of the aesthetic and social reflection on language, which is the transition of the concept of expression to that of communication or dialogue. He seeks to compile and maintain, but also surpassing, the critical characteristic of uncommunicative expression (and, therefore, refractory to the "pseudo-communication" of the bourgeois society), as it was conceived and experienced by modern art and the vanguards of the beginning of the 20th century, formulating the social critical perspective of the direct communication.

Keywords

• Reification
• Language
• Expression
• Communication