SPECTACLE, ENTERTAINMENT, AND CONTROL IN SUNRISE ON THE REAPING BY COLLINS
Keywords:
Control, Debord, Entertainment, Obedience, Society of the Spectacle, Sunrise on the Reaping (2025)Abstract
This paper studies the dynamics of spectacle, control and power in Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) by Collins, a work that shows how the spectacle becomes a means to control, and discipline the individuals in society. Based on The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord, the paper examines how lived reality has been substituted by images, performances and mediated representations that promote the authoritarian control. The novel depicts a society where carnage is turned into entertainment and that only by yielding oneself to the logic of spectacle can one survive. The role of spectacle as a way of social control can be effectively analyzed by using Debord’s framework, in which the oppression is covered by visual excess and fabricated stories. The study is devoted to how the Capitol manages to control fear, media, and ritualized violence to strengthen hierarchical power dynamics and make domination a norm. The results of the analysis show that spectacle does not only reinforce political power, it also internalizes obedience among oppressed people. The Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) predetermines the devastating influence of spectacle on individuality, memory, and conscience. The paper concludes that Collins’ novel is an influential commentary of modern lives in which media, spectacle and power intertwine in order to control human beings. Through its interaction with the theory of Debord, the text points at the fact that resistance is possible by means of awareness, solidarity, and moral responsibility that makes the Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) an important addition to the modern dystopian literature and critical theory of spectacle and influence.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Aleeza Imran, Rabia Faiz (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
