Aaron Post 8

Aaron Childree

In a world where everything is defined in terms of dollars and cents, we shouldn’t be surprised that what Theodor Adorno refers to as the “culture industry” has become a huge part of our lives. In this culture industry, art is no longer an intellectual experience but a means for mindless entertainment. Adorno saw the advent of this industry in particular with regards to the rise of the Hollywood film industry. There was no longer such a thing as art film, it was purely a money-making endeavor in which whatever would reach the largest audience would be produced. Adorno saw the culture industry as a huge threat to society as we know it.

The dangers of the culture industry lie in the way it attempts (for the most part successfully) to control what society thinks. In this way the culture industry is the democratic equivalent to a totalitarian regime. Adorno makes this connection through the way terminology is created and used in both the culture industry and by totalitarian rulers. He says, “The blind and rapidly spreading repetition of words with special designations links advertising with the totalitarian watchword.” (from The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception). It could be easily argued that this industry is more dangerous than a totalitarian ruler because it sneaks up on us virtually unnoticed. As Rob pointed out in class on Wednesday, many people still deny the affect that advertisement’s have on their thinking. If we don’t realize that it is affecting us, it has even more power to do so. Our thought’s are being influenced by the advertisement’s that surround us as well as all the other components of the culture industry, and many people don’t even notice.

Another danger is that human beings are no longer being treated as people to interact with and have relationships with. The danger is in the way even human beings are being commodified. We are only seen as another opportunity for the businesses that run our so-called “free” market economy to turn a profit. Humans are seen as commodities in that they compose the demographics that the businesses are trying to sell to and they are commodities in that they can provide labor for the companies. This labor is then assigned a dollar value and this dollar value is essentially seen as that person’s worth. More than ever before, people are identified by what job they have and how much money they make.

Yet another danger of this culture industry is that it discourages the use of the mind. We can now be entertained without thinking at all. In Adorno’s words, “The phrase, the world wants to be deceived, has become truer than had ever been intended” (from Culture Industry Reconsidered). We want to believe the nonsense we see on television and just live from our couches. We know we are being fed lies, but we believe it because we want to. This is why reality TV has become such a huge hit. Reality TV shows tell people what they want to hear, that life is like a TV show. The viewer knows that this isn’t true of his life, so he would rather live through his favorite television characters.

Although we are not thinking during the entertainment process, we are still being influenced in a huge way. Everything in the mass media is dumbed down to the point of being pure entertainment without any educational value of any sort. We are being conditioned to want predictable, unintelligent entertainment. This shows up in the way all our movies conform to one basic plotline. There is a comedy plotline, a drama plotline, an action movie plotline, and every movie in these genres is only a slight variation on a common theme. In order to appeal to a large audience, no risks can be taken and the pursuit of beauty must be sacrificed. People would rather hear a “catchy” song than a beautiful and lyrically complex song and the same applies to all the arts. They are only given worth according to how much money they can make in the current market. The artistic beauty of art is of no concern unless that makes people want to spend money on it. Because of this visual art is used primarily as a medium in which to promote products through advertisements, thus leading to the downfall of “high” art or “art for art’s sake”.

I t is not very difficult to see some of the ways in which the culture industry continues to expand its reach. One of the easiest ways to see this is to take a quick glance at the various mediums used for advertising. The culture industry used to stick to billboards, television, and the radio to advertise their products, but in today’s society there are no more barriers. I have seen advertisement’s on sport’s fields and on racecars, but the most telling situation I have witnessed was when I was watching a beach volleyball match on TV. The volleyball players were shirtless and had temporary tattoos of brand names on their bodies. If this doesn’t show how individuals are becoming commodities, I don’t know what does. If we are not careful, advertisements will become the only kind of art available and there will be nowhere to escape from ads.

Adorno would agree that the culture industry is expanding day by day. This is because, like a totalitarian regime, the culture industry tries to control thoughts. It brainwashes you in to believing in its product. Instead of using force, it indoctrinates you so that you come running to buy whatever is being touted as the next big thing. Adorno quotes Toqueville on this subject, “tyranny leaves the body free and directs its attack at the soul. The ruler no longer says: You must think as I do; he says: You are free not to think as I do; your life, your property, everything shall remain yours, but from this day on you are a stranger among us.” (from The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception). The culture industry is the newest form of tyranny. It appeals to people’s need to fit in, to be part of the group. Because of this need to fit in, people allow the culture industry to grow and completely buy into its ideology.

The main difference between culture industry “art” and free and imaginative art is the purpose for which the art is created. Free and imaginative art, or “high” art, is trying to enlighten the viewer to whatever ideas they are trying to portray. Culture industry art is trying to sell something to the viewer. We have talked about the phrase “art for art’s sake”, and Adorno mentions this as well. High art would be considered art for art’s sake, where as you might say that the culture industry produces art for the sake of making money. Another distinction that Adorno makes has to do with what he calls the “autonomy of works of art” (from Culture Industry Revisited). True art is autonomous and therefore independent of any outside authority. The artist as an individual is the one with the authority to freely express his ideas. In the culture industry, autonomous art does not exist. All art is either openly advocating cultural norms or being influenced by the prevailing cultural norms.

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artstor.org

A perfect example of the contrast between these two styles of art can be seen in the pictures above. The first image is The Birth of Venus by Botticelli and the second is a Gucci advertisement that uses a parody of Botticelli’s painting. Botticelli painted this painting in order to show something that he thought was beautiful, but in today’s culture anything that will help you make money is fair game. Gucci took this famous painting and then added extravagant jewelry to the naked goddess in order to hopefully sell more of their products. If we are not careful, high art will cease to exist and art will only be judged according to its practical and monetary value.