Spectacle and the Feed: Memetics and Media Parasitism
ANITTA JOSE
Assistant Professor in English
Union Christian College, Aluva, Kerala
DR. MANJUSHA K G
Professor, Department of English
Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, Kerala
Abstract: In the contemporary digital landscape, media consumption is increasingly shaped by algorithmically curated feeds that prioritize attention-grabbing content, giving rise to a new mode of cultural transmission governed by spectacle. Drawing from Guy Debord‘s concept of the spectacle, this paper explores how the incessant flow of visual stimuli and emotional provocation on social media platforms transforms public discourse into a performative arena of passive spectatorship. Within this environment, memes function as parasitic cultural agents— self-replicating units that exploit cognitive biases, emotional triggers, and algorithmic structures to ensure their survival and spread. This paper conceptualizes a framework of media parasitism, in which users serve as both hosts and vectors for viral content. Memes do not simply inform or entertain; they hijack attention, replicate through social sharing, and evolve rapidly in response to platform dynamics. In this context, the feed becomes an ecological system where memetic entities compete for cognitive real estate, often privileging virality over veracity, outrage over nuance, and spectacle over substance. This paper argues that the interplay between spectacle-driven media environments and memetic parasitism poses significant challenges to collective sense-making, democratic discourse, and mental health. It calls for a re-evaluation of our relationship to media technologies and the development of memetic literacy as a potential mode of resistance. It positions the digital feed as a contested site where cultural evolution, cognitive exploitation, and political manipulation converge.
Keywords: Spectacle, media parasitism, memetics, digital capitalism
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