Guy Debord (1931 - 1994)

Mon Dec 28, 1931

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Guy Debord, born on this day in 1931, was a Marxist philosopher and filmmaker who co-founded the Situationist International and authored “The Society of the Spectacle” (1967).

Guy Debord was born in Paris in 1931 and began his career as a writer after dropping out of the University of Paris, where he was studying law. Debord joined the Letterist International, a group of avant-garde French artists and intellectuals, when he was 18.

Debord was first to propose the concept of the “Spectacle”, referring to the role of media, culture and advertising in post-World War II consumerist society, and the way it is able to commercially co-opt and repackage counter-cultural ideas and movements.

On the nature of media and the new-found emphasis on appearance, Debord stated “Just as early industrial capitalism moved the focus of existence from being to having, post-industrial culture has moved that focus from having to appearing.”

The concept of “Spectacle” became central to the ideas of the Situationist International, which Debord co-founded in 1957. Ideas from the Situationists proved influential on protesters during the May 68 uprising in France, where quotes and slogans from Situationist work would appear on graffiti and posters.

Debord himself would disband the Situationist International in 1972, following internal tensions amongst its members, and would focus on creating experimental film and tabletop war games, publishing “A Game of War” in 1987.

Suffering from depression and alcoholism in his later years, Debord committed suicide at his home in 1994.

“The more powerful the class, the more it claims not to exist.”

- Guy Debord