#debord2

I chose ‘The Treachery of Images’ as an image to represent Debord’s message due to the inherent criticism and irony that Rene Magritte’s piece highlighted in his time: at how artists, content creators and the general people lie to themselves and each other by creating and perpetuating images, and how this leads them to move through life convinced that the spectacular illusion they immerse themselves in is 'living’. This is most evident when Debord states, “The specialisation of images of the world is completed in the world of the autonomous image, where the liar has lied to himself. I interpreted this as professional artists and image makers making images guided by a specific discipline or brand that is autonomous due to its separation from  hobbyists and non-commercial creators, which onto itself  declares itself as being "autonomous’ – unique – to which the non-specialists agree and buy into. This is compounded by the idea that the creator is not only convincing the masses that what they’re are presenting is real, but is convincing themselves that their creation is also real, forgetting their artists craft is based on the ideology of lying and persuading an audience that what they see is real. This issue has been and is observed in social media content creators posting photography or art that is purely representational to the world and declaring that it is true or real – captions and thumbnails on Youtube telling you that the content is real. The Treachery of Images aptly comments on this as the comment 'This is not a pipe’ highlights the easily forgettable idea that what one see’s in an image is representational, and to think otherwise or declare it as being reality would be to lie to the audience and the creator. This paragraph can be potentially interpreted as elevation of awareness to the fact that 'The spectacle in general’ is 'the concrete inversion of life’ and that it a unfortunate fact that creators publish the message that the spectacle they produce is in fact life itself and those who partake in the lie are living.

“Images detached from every aspect of life merge into a common stream, and the former unity of life is lost forever. Apprehended in a partial way, reality unfolds in a new generality as a pseudo-world apart, solely as an object of contemplation. The tendency toward the specialization of images-of-the-world finds its highest expression in the world of the autonomous image, where deceit deceives itself. The spectacle in its generality is a concrete inversion of life, and, as such, the autonomous movement of non-life.” This quote stuck out to me the most; I thought of how Instagram lifestyle bloggers and others like them (such as fitness, models, beauty, etc) pull out aspects of their lives to put on display. What they show are depictions of character from corners of their lives, creating a narrative that is perceived by the audience to be a perfect, achievable life. These parts that are pulled out, are a false narrative to what is really going on in many of their lives. Though, what they are doing is real, what happens in their life off screen is never shown, creating two separate worlds to be lived in. As such, this is objectified by onlookers, everyone believes this outward display of perfection.

"Images detached from every aspect of life merge into a common stream, and the former unity of life is lost forever. Apprehended in a partial way, reality unfolds in a new generality as a pseudo-world apart, solely as an object of contemplation. The tendency toward the specialization of images-of-the-world finds its highest expression in the world of the autonomous image, where deceit deceives itself. The spectacle in its generality is a concrete inversion of life, and, as such, the autonomous movement of non-life." I thought of how Instagram lifestyle bloggers and others like them (such as fitness, models, beauty, etc) pull out aspects of their lives to put on display. What they show are depictions of character from corners of their lives, creating a narrative that is perceived by the audience to be a perfect, achievable life. These parts that are pulled out, are a false narrative to what is really going on in many of their lives. Though, what they are doing is real, what happens in their life off screen is never shown, creating two separate worlds to be lived in. As such, this is objectified by onlookers, everyone believes this outward display of perfection.

(it should be mentioned that when this all blew up last year, the influencer got loads of hate online. I think as much as the whole pancake- tortilla thing seems ridiculous, it’s more ridiculous to think that someone sent a death threat to an influencer about tortillas…) 

The reason I chose this picture was because its light, shadow and composition attracted me, and the shadows around it set off the model better. Similarly, the posture of the two models made the viewer associate, and made people guess what happened to their relationship and what happened, and when the picture was taken, in the morning or in the morning. Sunset, shooting under what circumstances, and so on. The wearing of the model is also an analytic point. The front model’s clothes are pure white, and the black and white Qun on the back can better highlight her position.

Referring to point 2, I have chosen a drawing of instagram feed with captions such as “perfect life” etc, to portray how people often create almost fictional character/lifestyle, marketing themselves as living in utopian world, land flowing with milk and honey, having perfect health and appearance, adventurous lifestyle and no worries at all. Ignoring controversial issues, and uncomfortsble subjects, they are almost detaching from a reality and live in a spectacle. Every private moment is put on a display and the most relevant and urging issues are chasing after internet fame and followers.

This picture was taken from a Japanese micro photographer Tanaka tatsuya. I chose this picture because the photographer used a lot of subtle things to recreate a tiny world. The world looks like a world that is similar to the real world but not a real world, but a world built by humans. As Debord mentioned, the world that people are exposed to is no longer a reality, but a post-processing reality. The landscape society changes the imagination of people through the form of visual communication, and then negatively shapes the modern society.

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