Daniel Boorstin
'THE IMAGE: A GUIDE TO PSEUDO-EVENTS'
Daniel Boorstin (1914 - 2004) was an American historian, professor, attorney and writer.
His 1961 book The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in American is an early description of aspects of American life that were later termed hyperreality and postmodernity. In The Image, Boorstin describes shifts in American culture — mainly due to advertising — where the reproduction or simulation of an event becomes more important or "real" than the event itself. He goes on to coin the term ‘pseudo-event’ which describes events or activities that serve little to no purpose other than to be reproduced through advertisements or other forms of publicity. A news conference, a photo-op, a movie premiere, an award ceremony, even a presidential debate — all these are staged, in his analysis, simply to get media attention or, to get attention for attention's sake.
America, according to Boorstin, was threatened by "the menace of unreality," which was infiltrating society, and replacing the authentic with the contrived. He claimed that America was living in an "age of contrivance," in which illusions and fabrications had become a dominant force in society. Just as there were now counterfeit events, i.e. “pseudo-events” so, he said, there were also counterfeit people - celebrities - whose identities were being staged and scripted, to create illusions that often had no relationship to any underlying reality. Everywhere Boorstin looked from journalism, heroism, travel, art, even human aspiration — he believed that the eternal verities that had once governed life had given way to something cheap and phony: a facsimile of life.
His 1961 book The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in American is an early description of aspects of American life that were later termed hyperreality and postmodernity. In The Image, Boorstin describes shifts in American culture — mainly due to advertising — where the reproduction or simulation of an event becomes more important or "real" than the event itself. He goes on to coin the term ‘pseudo-event’ which describes events or activities that serve little to no purpose other than to be reproduced through advertisements or other forms of publicity. A news conference, a photo-op, a movie premiere, an award ceremony, even a presidential debate — all these are staged, in his analysis, simply to get media attention or, to get attention for attention's sake.
America, according to Boorstin, was threatened by "the menace of unreality," which was infiltrating society, and replacing the authentic with the contrived. He claimed that America was living in an "age of contrivance," in which illusions and fabrications had become a dominant force in society. Just as there were now counterfeit events, i.e. “pseudo-events” so, he said, there were also counterfeit people - celebrities - whose identities were being staged and scripted, to create illusions that often had no relationship to any underlying reality. Everywhere Boorstin looked from journalism, heroism, travel, art, even human aspiration — he believed that the eternal verities that had once governed life had given way to something cheap and phony: a facsimile of life.
- Of journalism, he would say, "More and more news events become dramatic performances in which 'men in the news' simply act out more or less well their prepared script."
- Of heroism, he would say that it had been replaced by celebrity, which he famously described as "a person who is known for his well-knownness."
- Even the tourism industry, which had once offered adventure seekers a passport to reality, now insulated travellers from the places they were visiting, and, instead, provided "artificial products," in which "picturesque natives fashion(ed) papier-mâché images of themselves," for tourists who expected to see scenes out of the movies. Of travel, he would say that tourists increasingly demanded experiences that would "become bland and unsurprising reproductions of what the image-flooded tourist knew was there all the time." He believes that tourism is just the same reproduced events of the same sites with the same people, only with different languages.
Why Boorstin's believes in Hyperreality...
Boorstin's premature definition of hyperreality which he deemed as 'pseudo-events' exists for several reasons.
He believes that people have a diabolical need to leave reality. Boorstin thinks people have developed the need for drama and attention. By having dramatic and news worthy stories and unrealistic people as our 'heroes' help to create attention.
He believes that people have a diabolical need to leave reality. Boorstin thinks people have developed the need for drama and attention. By having dramatic and news worthy stories and unrealistic people as our 'heroes' help to create attention.