images economy

an analysis of the place of the image in consumer capitalism and the effects of its dynamics on subjects

Abstract

This study seeks to analyze the place of the image in capitalism and its effects on the subjects from the articulation between image theory, psychoanalysis and philosophy. The relationship between image and capitalism is consolidated in the consumer society, since the imperatives of jouissance are conveyed by contemporary modalities of picture. In this context, the possibility of approximation between the commodity-form and the image is favored by the subjective, normative, and instrumental nature of these images, composing an economy that demands a specific way of life in a world enchained by images. The effectiveness of this process is due to its suitability to Capital's conformative rhythm of self-worth and its compulsion for the continuous production and consumption of images. While the imperatives of jouissance incite a disciplinary subjection through the indeterminate flow of statements and objects, society acts in the production of the value of images, elevated through the inclusion of the subject itself in the image. The effects of this dynamic are characterized by a kind of blockage in the ability of the subjects to narrate their suffering experiences, since the imagetic and repressive thrust of society would cause a deficit in the narrative quality.