Spectacle

Spectacle

In general, spectacle refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates. Derived in Middle English from c. 1340 as "specially prepared or arranged display" it was borrowed from Old French spectacle, itself a reflection of the Latin spectaculum "a show" from spectare "to view, watch" frequentative form of specere "to look at."[1] The word spectacle has also been a term of art in theater dating from the 17th century in English drama.

Contents

Ancient cultural origins

The term was borrowed from the Roman practice of staging Circuses, in the rather famous philosophy of the Roman elite of "Bread and Circuses" to maintain civil order due to an inability to solve underlying social and economic problems.[2]

Low and high culture

Spectacle operates in two contexts simultaneously. On the one hand, it refers to high culture (drama, movies) performances where the draw for an audience is the impressive visual accomplishment. On the other hand, it refers to low cultural shows operating in a folk environment. These can range from the freak show to folk drama to tablieau and beast-plays. The two worlds have always interacted to a lesser or greater degree, with the folks spectacle often being rewritten into a literary spectacle, whether for humor (e.g. The Mechanicals with their performance of Pyramus and Thisbe in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream) or not (e.g. the serious treatment of the folk Everyman).

Low and high culture mingled in the spectacle as long as folk productions of spectacle were possible. In the 17th century in England, popular spectacles of the playhouse would be adapted into spectacles for the fair, and in the 18th century fair shows and pantomimes would be adapted to the playhouse stage. In the 19th century, theaters moved farther from folk cultural spectacles and began to develop stand-alone seasonal plays that were centered on a spectacular piece. However, in the 20th century, with the invention of movie theaters, folk festivals were unable to create or recreate the spectacles on film, and the theaters themselves were soon unable to replicate the spectaculars of films. Although film adaptation would occasionally begin with the old, folk mythological narrative material, the movie that resulted would be distributed out to all audiences, thus destroying the audience and source of folk spectacle.

The Masque and spectacle

Court masques and masques of the nobility were most popular in the Jacobean and Caroline era. Such masques, as their name implies, relied heavily upon a non-verbal theater. The character lists for masques would be quite small, in keeping with the ability of a small family of patrons to act, but the costumes and theatrical effects would be lavish. Reading the text of masques, such as The Masque at Ludlow (most often referred to as Comus), the writing is spare, philosophical, and grandiose, with very few marks of traditional dramatic structure. This is partially due to the purpose of the masque being family entertainment and spectacle. Unlike The Masque at Ludlow, most masques were recreations of well-known mythological or religious scenes. Some masques would derive from tableau. For example, Edmund Spenser (Fairie Queene I, iv) describes a masque of The Seven Deadly Sins.

Masques were multimedia, for they almost always involved costuming and music as a method of conveying the story or narrative. Joseph Bigler, for example, wrote masques with the architect Inigo Jones. William Davenant, who would become one of the major impressarios of the English Restoration, also wrote pre-Revolutionary masques with Inigo Jones. The role of the architect was that of designer of the staging, which would be elaborate and often culminate in a fireworks show.

The Hollywood Spectacular

When the zoetrope and nickelodeon technology first appeared, the earliest films were spectacles. They caught the attention of common people. They showed things people would rarely see, and they showed it to the wide audience.

  • Thomas Edison filmed Eiffel Tower, actual American Indians in a simulated attack, and even celebrated beauty queens.
  • Louis Lumière's filmed train pulling into a station in 1895. The camera was in front of the train, and the train "came" directly at the viewer. It was a sensational because it gave an object of gaze.


Spectacle and Society

Within industrial and post-industrial cultural and state formations, Spectacle implies an organization of appearances that are simultaneously enticing, deceptive, distracting and superficial. Jonathan Crary: 2005

Spectacle can also refer to a society dominated by electronic media, consumption, and surveillance, reducing citizens to spectators by political neutralization. Recently the word is associated with the many ways in which a capitalist structure creates play-like celebrations of its products and leisure time consumption. Guy Debord's philosophical critique and documentary The Society of the Spectacle explores the concept.

See also


Notes

External links


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  • spectacle — [ spɛktakl ] n. m. • v. 1200; lat. spectaculum 1 ♦ Ensemble de choses ou de faits qui s offre au regard. ⇒ aspect, tableau. « Des vers que nous inspirait le spectacle de la nature » (Chateaubriand). Au spectacle de : à la vue de. Donner qqch. en… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • spectacle — SPECTACLE. s. m. Representation que l on donne au public pour le divertir. l Opera est un beau spectacle. la comedie est un agreable spectacle. aller aux spectacles. les spectacles sont necessaires pour amuser les peuples. il aime les spectacles …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • Spectacle — Spec ta*cle, n. [F., fr. L. spectaculum, fr. spectare to look at, to behold, v. intens. fr. specere. See {Spy}.] 1. Something exhibited to view; usually, something presented to view as extraordinary, or as unusual and worthy of special notice; a… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • spectacle — (n.) mid 14c., specially prepared or arranged display, from O.Fr. spectacle, from L. spectaculum a show, spectacle, from spectare to view, watch, frequentative form of specere to look at, from PIE *spek to observe (see SCOPE (Cf. scope) (1)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • spectacle — public, Spectaculum. Un spectacle qui n est point agreable, Minime gratum spectaculum. Spectacle triste, Miserum spectaculum …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • spectacle — ► NOUN ▪ a visually striking performance or display. ● make a spectacle of oneself Cf. ↑make a spectacle of oneself ORIGIN Latin spectaculum public show , from specere to look …   English terms dictionary

  • spectacle — [spek′tə kəl] n. [OFr < L spectaculum < spectare, to behold, freq. of specere, to see: see SPY] 1. something to look at, esp. some strange or remarkable sight; unusual display 2. a public show or exhibition on a grand scale 3. [pl.] Old… …   English World dictionary

  • spectacle — index phenomenon (manifestation), phenomenon (unusual occurrence), scene, vision (dream) Burton s Legal Thesaurus …   Law dictionary

  • spectacle — [n] something showy; exhibition comedy, curiosity, demonstration, display, drama, event, exposition, extravaganza, marvel, movie, pageant, parade, performance, phenomenon, play, production, representation, scene, show, sight, spectacular, tableau …   New thesaurus

  • spectacle — (spè kta kl ) s. m. 1°   Tout ce qui attire le regard, l attention, arrête la vue. •   Au spectacle sanglant d un ami qu il faut suivre...., CORN. Poly. III, 3. •   Auguste journée où ces deux rois [d Espagne et de France], avec leur cour d une… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • SPECTACLE — s. m. Il se dit de Tout objet ou ensemble d objets qui attire les regards, l attention, qui arrête la vue. Beau spectacle. Triste, horrible spectacle. Spectacle d horreur. Spectacle tragique. Spectacle touchant, instructif. Spectacle magnifique,… …   Dictionnaire de l'Academie Francaise, 7eme edition (1835)

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