SPECTACLE AND SYMBOLIC SUBVERSION

Abstract

I use the concepts of spectacle and symbolic subversion to analyze three student videos about the war on Iraq and consumerism. I argue that Debord's concept of spectacle provides a powerful theory for examining the erasure of histories and the obsession with the consumption of images. However, unlike Debord, I argue there is room for what Bourdieu calls “symbolic subversion.” Symbolic subversion is the act of deconstructing and reconstructing meanings of text. Symbolic subversion facilitates whole new patterns of association between items; in a hegemonic view the items do not connect, but through the act of symbolic subversion they can be explicitly connected. Although they did not name what they were doing symbolic subversion or spectacle, the dialogue between undergraduates studying to work in child‐ and youth‐serving professions and high school students demonstrated a knowledge of what it means to engage with or use spectacle to subvert dominant meanings.

Keywords:

• consumerism
• lens
• media education
• spectacle
• student voice symbolic subversion
• youth–adult collaboration
• video production
• war on Iraq

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes to thank the William T. Foundation for pilot funding for the project, and the Social Science Research Council of Canada for funding a subsequent youth–adult collaboration project; André Mazawi, Deirdre Kelly, and Jo‐Anne Dillabough for their insightful feedback and editing suggestions; and Makram Khoury‐Machool for his kind invitation to the conference Art, Media and the Spectacle of Conflict from which this paper originates. Finally, thank you to the anonymous reviewers and Dafna Lemish for the immensely helpful feedback.

Notes

1. I ended up moving to another city and position, and so did not have a chance to follow up with all the students. Added to this was the fact that students were preparing for final exams immediately after the course I taught. I did have the opportunity to have frequent conversations throughout the term with students and to record these in my field notes.

2. I use pseudonyms for the research participants.

3. Pseudonyms are used.