3 posts tagged “pop culture”

The Image

The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America by Daniel J. Boorstin is my artistic-intellectual bible. It has been for the last 4 years ... I'm re-reading it for the 20+ time.  Let's start at the basics. The following is a summary of characteristics that define pseudo-events:

1. Pseudo-events are dramatic.
2. Pseudo-events, being planned for dissemination, are easy to disseminate and to make vivid.
3. Pseudo-events can be repeated at will.
   
4. Pseudo-events cost money to create.
   
5. Pseudo-events are planned for intelligibility.
6. Pseudo-events are sociable, conversable, and convenient to witness.
7. Knowledge of pseudo-events become a test of being "informed."
8. Pseudo-events spawn other pseudo-events.

Although this book was written in 1961, its relevance to the state of American Culture / Popular Culture has never been more apparent. Perhaps its the absurd amount of pseudo-events that continue to multiply like gremlins that makes us more aware of their creation and proliferation. How many real events are we, the people, informed about?