”The shrieking of nothing is killing me” : Representations of society of the spectacle and hyperreality in David Bowie’s lyrics

Abstract: This text explores how the lyrics of David Bowie can be applied as supporting the critique against hyperreality and society of the spectacle, as articulated by Guy Debord and Jean Baudrillard. This is done by focusing on three questions: 1) what elements in Bowie’s lyrics support Debord and Baudrillard, 2) how can these elements function to portray Bowie as primarily a sociologist and secondly an artist, and 3) what are the benefits of using fiction (in this case lyrics) as empirical material? From a theoretical framework building on Debord’s society of the spectacle and Baudrillard’s focus on hyperreality, I will apply a two-folded methodology of sociology through literature and socio-poetics. This will enable an analysis in which reflections are salient, together with the idea that literature and other fiction are able to create sociological insights, instead of being contextualized within already fixed sociological frames. The main conclusions centers around three central concepts: the elastic subject versus the plastic object, duality and the relation between agency and creativity. There is an importance of being elastic, rather than plastic, as elasticity favors our abilities and possibilities of reflection and contemplation, this also involves duality functioning to enhance the immanent struggle between the socially constructed object and autonomous subject. Bowies focus on the relation between creativity and change is also prominent, although the most important finding is Bowie’s character of a chameleon, embodying different personas, situations and the relation between despair and confidence. The explicit implication of having an interdisciplinary approach to sociology is a strength supported by Bowie’s combination of sociology, philosophy and anthropology. This opens up new windows to future research involving various themes of which one theme is how elasticity can be used to understand digitalization and our absorption in social media and their function as role models in a hyperreal society built on spectacle and unauthentic identity.