As Stanbury contends, England in the late Middle Ages was keenly attuned to and troubled by its "culture of the spectacle," whether this spectacle took the form of a newly made queen in Chaucer's Clerk's Tale or of the animate Christ in Norwich Cathedral's Despenser Retable.
WaterFire can draw upwards of 70,000 people on a summer weekend, but it's worth braving the crowds to see the spectacle, whether from the riverwalk or by gondola.
No less abrasive and canny was Debord's understanding of "récupération", or the way in which even the most radical gesture will eventually be commodified and turned into an item of leisure interest by the Spectacle, whether in the form of Charles Manson T-situationistationist retrospectives in art galleries, or handsome Jonathan Cape biographies with excitable blurbs.
Scenic and costume designer Christopher Oram, Grandage's frequent collaborator, manages the same balance of sprit and spectacle, whether summoning the cultural and spiritual traditions of local townsfolk or bringing us deep into Elsa's domain.
Yet there is juice and even joy in this spectacle, whether in the tacky wedding that kicks it off or in the banter among Luciano, his benign co-worker, Michele (Nando Paone), and their customers.
A Quieter February Fashion Week When the events of Sept. 11 cut short the spring 2002 Fashion Week in New York, many participants in the spectacle wondered whether the hoopla attached to the presentation of new clothes would ever seem appropriate again.
"The criteria is mostly about this performativity of death in public space and this idea of the spectacle, whether it's in a demonstration or an execution or, you know, barrel bombs," Majd said of the images in his embroideries.
Either way, the Singapore Grand Prix is a spectacle, whether from trackside or (more likely) your armchair.
In the west in the 19th and early 20th centuries, festivities had been replaced by spectacles, whether concerts at which the audience sat mute and motionless, or huge organised events such as the rallies of Hitler and Mussolini at which the spectators, scarcely less well-drilled than the marching soldiers they beheld, were reduced to utter passivity.
The question will be whether and how the spectacle suffers without the intensity provided by some of last season's stars: Bryn Terfel, Jonas Kaufmann, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Waltraud Meier.
