Today we had to opportunity to gather as a group and brainstorm ideas for a radio project. We all agreed that we wanted to touch on contemporary themes which formed the foundation for our brainstorming ideas to grow. We wanted to do something deconstructive, using false convictions and uncertainty to create an ambiguous and Dadaist radio experience. Personally, I loved this direction – a radio show that takes inspiration from Burroughs’ cut up technique really intrigued me – I felt like it was a powerful way to comment on the ego-centric radio personality we had begun to concoct.
In the coming weeks we decided to base our radio play around Guy Debord’s “La Société du Spectacle” (1967)”. One of the most important themes we aimed to explore with “Just Cindy” was Marx’s Commodity fetishism
Debord’s commentary on commodity fetishism was the blueprint for our piece. We used Debord’s and Marx’s writing as a guide to create an interview between two fictional characters we had created – “The Interviewer” and “cindy”. Debord states, “… just as early industrial capitalism moved the focus of existence from being to having, post-industrial culture has moved that focus from having to appearing.” This quote is the framework for Cindy’s personality – her conceited nature and vain disposition is a mirror image of reification.