In this chapter, Gustave Le Bon describes why the imagination of crowds is so powerful and active. Figurative events that happen in people's minds are "evoked by personage, an event, or an accident" and are almost as lifelike as reality. Crowds always refer to images that they are capable of thinking of, rather than reality. Images are what give crowds "motives of action". This is why theatrical representations have such a huge influence on crowds. When a crowd is subjected to an influential speaker, the whole crowd lives in the moment and shares the same dream by feeling the same emotions. This is why people laugh at the same time (because they are imagining the same actions) or why they get riled up at the same time.
Le Bon's book The Crowd is considered "one of the classics of sociological theory". Le Bon was very interested in images and theatrical representations. These representations are mass-mediated culture, which can be compared to film, video, television, audiences, public opinion, etc. By these theatrical representations, Le Bon is saying that people get the same reactions when they listen to a song or hear a speech. They understand the underlying message by picturing images. This theory is called "reader-response" or "reception" theory. Theatrical representations have the power to shape a crowd or society's views on certain issues in life.
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