• DOI:10.1177/0896920514524605
• Corpus ID: 145097590

The Commodification of Spectacle: Spectators, Sponsors and the Outlaw Biker Diegesis at Sturgis

@article{Krier2016TheCO,
  title={The Commodification of Spectacle: Spectators, Sponsors and the Outlaw Biker Diegesis at Sturgis},
  author={Daniel Krier and William J. Swart},
  journal={Critical Sociology},
  year={2016},
  volume={42},
  pages={11 - 32}
}

• Daniel Krier, W. Swart
• Published 1 January 2016
• Sociology
• Critical Sociology

This article conceptualizes economies of spectatorship through a case study of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (SMR). Economies of spectatorship produce spectacular diegeses as commodities sold to spectators and sponsors. They develop through a dialectical process of progressive decontextualization as their diegeses are cross-marketed with discrepant products and services to reach new markets. Progressive decontextualization leads to diegetic incoherence that threatens the realization of profit. As an economy of spectatorship, the SMR produced an outlaw biker themed diegesis replete with vicarious action and consumable character gambles. The SMR progressively decontextualized as it cross-marketed its outlaw diegesis with establishment corporate, religious and political themes. The resulting diegetic incoherence threatened profits and required the SMR’s producers to make significant investments in order to stabilize its flow of spectators and sponsors. Conceptualizing such inherently negating processes is critical to understanding the commodification of spectacle in mature capitalism.