The Treachery of Lunchly: Images of Moldy Pizza and Debord’s Spectacle

The Lunchly mold story has been pretty big since it broke a week ago, such that I saw it even without looking for it. But there was one image that I found extremely curious, and thought warranted further investigation. This lead me to Debord's theory of the Spectacle, which I think is apt for understanding the medial and societal context in which this controversy has unfolded, with broader implications for understanding how image formation determines how we can engage with our world.

I do not intend to make a lot of videos about breaking controversies, but I think this video is in line with one theme of my channel, which is understanding media and the social context it exists in. Historically, I have mostly analyzed anime, but YouTube and social media are a huge part of where modern discourse takes place. I will try to be selective about where I think I can provide helpful and interesting analysis.

Thanks for watching!

00:00 Context
0:15 Part I: The AMLP
0:50 Part II: Spectacle
2:23 Part III: Rosanna Pansino
5:44 Part IV: Consequences
8:33 Part V: Mr. Beast!!!

Reference works:
Rosanna Pansino's video:    • I Tried Lunchly... It was MOLDY!  

The Society of the Spectacle: https://unredacted-word.pub/spectacle/

My understanding and contextualization of the Spectacle, especially in the digital world, was aided by the following resources:
THE SPECTACLE 2.0: Reading Debord in the Context of Digital Capitalism edited by Marco Briziarelli and Emiliana Armano.
In particular these chapters:
2, Introduction: From the Notion of Spectacle to Spectacle 2.0: The Dialectic of Capitalist Mediations, by Marco Briziarelli and Emiliana Armano
4, Guy Debord, a Critique of Modernism and Fordism: What Lessons for Today? by Olivier Frayssé
12, Immaterial Labour and Reality TV: The Affective Surplus of Excess by Jacob Johanssen

And this video:
   • Guy Debord and The Society of the Spectacle  

Articles referenced in Part 4:
Food recalls in 2024: https://www.foodlogistics.com/safety-...
Waffle recall: https://www.npr.org/2024/10/19/nx-s1-...
Boar's Head: https://apnews.com/article/boars-head...
Child labor: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...
Newscast b-roll analyzed:    • Disturbing details of Boar's Head plant in...