Civilizația spectacolului sau superficialitatea contaminantă

Abstract

The Civilization of the Spectacle or the Contaminating Superficiality
The volume of essays The Civilization of the Spectacle by Mario Vargas Llosa contains a critique of the contemporary society dominated by consumerism and spectacularity, elements that infest the cultural landscape, isolating the individual in his own judgment of taste and diminishing his desire to explore the human and the profound. Llosa examines how the media, the entertainment industry and the politics have contributed to the creation of a strident ʻspectacleʼ that dominates people's lives, reducing the understanding of the world to a sum of sensationalist images that do not provoke critique, reaction or introspection. Although attractive, this society does not only lead to a poor cultural environment, but also threatens the deep human communion.