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Spectacle and Trumpism: An Embodied Assemblage Approach
This radical and experimental book advances a new approach to understanding spectacle, one that helps us better understand how consumer culture paved the way for the post-truth politics of Donald Trump. Miller innovatively blends social and political theory, newspaper articles and contemporary commentary on Trump and Trumpism to provide a unique perspective on how capitalism intersects with and enables fascistic forms of power. His analysis contributes fresh insights to the rise of Trump and the politics of everyday consumer culture today.
144 pages, Hardcover
Published December 18, 2020
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December 13, 2021
As a disclaimer, I am an undergraduate in the university and department the author teachers, therefore know them. It is an odd experience to recognise people from the appreciation section.
Anyone aware of this book will know it's an academic text and is therefore written in the characteristic unforgiving way. While a sentence can cause confusion, when reading on you can find that the point is never hidden and one can read and understand the book without every word being acknowledged. This clashes with the overall structure, which constantly links and references previous points in a way that can cause slight doubt in such a tiring read if time is left between chapters.
It's tiring nature comes from the level of thought required. Likely due to the method taken, new information isn't necessary common. However thoughts that the reader may already know are structured and rearranged together to reach conclusions that seem clear in hindsight. This method of revelation writing means that a deep academic knowledge isn't required to get value from the text.
On a smaller scale, each section starts with a quote. These are nice introductions to the topic that show other works before building upon them. Avoiding the statistical elements means that the author comes through the text more, which combined with the repetition of strong language such as Trumpism being fascistic can cause disagreement. That's the intention though. To challenge accepted ideas with evidence that few could dispute. Personally I found myself disagreeing more with balances of responsibility rather than the points themselves, apart from one time where claiming that technology removed time to think and that it puts the individual centre stage seemed contradictory. This is due to me believing that the importance to image ascribed by the person, requiring the centre stage attention, requires the thought about ones standing and appearance. Therefore technology doesn't prevent thought, merely causes thought to prioritize different aspects of life than one usually would.
While overall a worthwhile read, if one section speaks to you the small size could leave you desiring more information on it. But that's okay. This is an important stepping stone on the academic journey of spectacle and consumer culture, not the answers to all questions about Trumpism.
Anyone aware of this book will know it's an academic text and is therefore written in the characteristic unforgiving way. While a sentence can cause confusion, when reading on you can find that the point is never hidden and one can read and understand the book without every word being acknowledged. This clashes with the overall structure, which constantly links and references previous points in a way that can cause slight doubt in such a tiring read if time is left between chapters.
It's tiring nature comes from the level of thought required. Likely due to the method taken, new information isn't necessary common. However thoughts that the reader may already know are structured and rearranged together to reach conclusions that seem clear in hindsight. This method of revelation writing means that a deep academic knowledge isn't required to get value from the text.
On a smaller scale, each section starts with a quote. These are nice introductions to the topic that show other works before building upon them. Avoiding the statistical elements means that the author comes through the text more, which combined with the repetition of strong language such as Trumpism being fascistic can cause disagreement. That's the intention though. To challenge accepted ideas with evidence that few could dispute. Personally I found myself disagreeing more with balances of responsibility rather than the points themselves, apart from one time where claiming that technology removed time to think and that it puts the individual centre stage seemed contradictory. This is due to me believing that the importance to image ascribed by the person, requiring the centre stage attention, requires the thought about ones standing and appearance. Therefore technology doesn't prevent thought, merely causes thought to prioritize different aspects of life than one usually would.
While overall a worthwhile read, if one section speaks to you the small size could leave you desiring more information on it. But that's okay. This is an important stepping stone on the academic journey of spectacle and consumer culture, not the answers to all questions about Trumpism.
Displaying 1 of 1 review