“The Media Spectacle Comes to Mexico”

OCTAVIO PAZ

Media Spectacle

Media Spectacle Comes to MexicoThe appearance of the national and international stage of

the Zapatistas, or EZLN on January 1, 1994 (the date NAFTA went into effect), brought the media spectacle to Mexico.

Nature of Media Spectacle:

1) Religious Liturgy 2) Civic Ceremony.

Media Spectacle

Nature of Media Spectacle:The media Spectacle is “enchanting” in the sense that

performs a sort of “magical spell”: It is romantic, live, and at the same distant and thus staged. We Watch, We Don’t Participate

Defining the PerformanceIt is civic and religious through the use of the

following:

1) Symbols2) Rituals3) Images

…It is ultimately based on belief.

Media Spectacle

Society of the SpectacleIn such a circumstance, events occur in the real world,

but are experienced by most only as bystanders, as observers.

“In the world of spectacles, things occur as they do in the real world and at the same time, they occur in another way, in the magical space and time of representation.”

“what sets apart our era from the preceding ones is the double preeminence of news and the image over reality.”

Media Spectacle

Society of the Spectacle:“What sets apart our era from the preceding ones is the

double preeminence of news and the image over reality.”

Modernity? Religiosity? “the ancients had visions, we have television.”

Media Spectacle

Society of the Spectacle: ImplicationsThere is a cruelty implicit to observing, and not acting.

“The civilization of the spectacle is cruel.”

The Great Yawn:Reduced to an audience, which begins to sees more than experience humans struggles, the public is afforded the luxury of disinterest. Moreover, the complexity, and frequency of the challenges people face induces boredom.

CHIAPAS: THE WORDS AND THE GESTURES

CHIAPAS: THE WORDS AND THE GESTURES The EZLN movement “has been the cause of little spilt

blood but much flowing of ink.”

Image of the ZapatistaIt captured the “intellectual” imagination, the global, and certain Mexican educated, cultured, and urban middle class.

CHIAPAS: THE WORDS AND THE GESTURES

Zapatista: Post-Modern Revolution? No. It is neither by its scope, limited as it was (initially) to

Chiapas, or demands, revolutionary, or post-modern.

Zapatista Goals:

1) End injustices against indigenous communities

2) Create real democracy, locally and nationally

CHIAPAS: THE WORDS AND THE GESTURES

Zapatista Style: Ultra Modern“The Chiapas rebels are indeed decidedly ultramodern in

the most precise sense: through their style.”

Zapatista Public ImageThrough their creation of an image, and an a set of ideas, the Zapatistas have been able to their media image.

Zapatista Attire: The Black Mask

Zapatista Public Image

Zapatista Public Image

Zapatista Public Image

Zapatista Public Image

CHIAPAS: THE WORDS AND THE GESTURES

Zapatista Message: Rhetorical, Imaginative

Zapatista Spokesmen: Sub-Commandante Marcos“Marcos, stands out as well through an art forgotten by our politicians and ideologues: rhetoric.”

Sub-Commandante Marcos

Sub-Commandante Marcos

Sub-Commandante Marcos

Sub-Commandante Marcos

Sub-Commandante Marcos

Sub-Commandante Marcos: Pop Cult

Sub-Commandante Marcos: Pop Cult

CHIAPAS: THE WORDS AND THE GESTURES

Zapatista: Post-Modern Revolution? No. It is neither by its scope, limited as it was (initially) to

Chiapas, or demands, revolutionary, or post-modern.

Zapatista Goals:

1) End injustices against indigenous communities

2) Create real democracy, locally and nationally

CHIAPAS: THE WORDS AND THE GESTURES

Zapatista: Post-Modern Revolution? No. It is neither by its scope, limited as it was (initially) to

Chiapas, or demands, revolutionary, or post-modern.

Zapatista Goals:

1) End injustices against indigenous communities

2) Create real democracy, locally and nationally