Justin Wright Post 8

Justin Wright post 8

Part 1: The primary problem with the culture industry is that popular culture is a manufactured product. It is designed and implemented with money in mind, and with making money as the goal. In the art world, what has been done before has little success, but in mass culture familiarity and repetition almost guarantee it. In fact, when a new film or television broadcast tries to deviate too much from accepted standards, it often goes unnoticed and ends up fading into obscurity. Adorno said that “…the inferior work has always relied on its similarity with others – on a surrogate identity.” And thus, the entire mass culture consists of inferior works.

The culture industry hampers progress by creating its own traditions which are slow to change, and impossible to influence. So producers ran out of ideas and used formulaic clichés to build programs. In a given genre, films and shows will be similar, due to the reuse of successful material. The pioneering programs in any field will set the standard, and also set the audience’s expectations. So repetition becomes normal, and “as soon as the film begins, it is quite clear how it will end, and who will be rewarded, punished, or forgotten.” The happy ending is typical, and an audience will feel cheated if they expect it and it does not happen. But when an unhappy ending is expected and occurs, disappointment does not. “The outcome of all conflicts is pre-established, and all conflicts are mere sham.” Surprise usually unsettles an audience who likes to feel that they were right in their predictions. There are a few exceptions, but the majority of films and shows are repetitive, with “…entirely unproblematic, cliché-like characterization.”

The production of mass culture is also a key point in Adorno’s argument. Money is flaunted in the culture industry. “The universal criterion of merit is the amount of ‘conspicuous production,’ of blatant cash investment.” A high budget for a film signifies to some members of the audience that this film is better, because it was more expensive, and expensive things are generally better. Most of this money is spent on technical aspects, and the actual meaning behind the work is unaffected by money. Therefore money is presented as a false measure of quality. Also, no one person is responsible for anything in the production. Like theater, there may be many actors, but there will be many script writers, and superiors who govern what gets aired and produced. Adorno said that “…most products of mass media are not produced by one individual but by collective collaboration…” This is more closely related to a product such as an automobile, which is designed by many engineers, and built by many workers with different designated tasks, than a play written by a single playwright.

The culture industry has changed the way people today see art. Traditional art, or even any art in general that is not popular culture, is seen as elitist and therefore ignored. Mass culture is seen as the “democratic” medium of expression because the people supposedly prefer it. But the audience of mass culture has no say whatsoever over the content, usually not even over their own interpretations which are spoon-fed to them. “No independent thinking must be expected from the audience: the product prescribes every reaction: not by its natural structure (which collapses under reflection), but by signals.” Because of this lack of control on the part of viewers, producers can change public perceptions. “Above all, this rigid institutionalization transforms modern mass culture into a medium of undreamed psychological control. The repetitiveness, the selfsameness, and the ubiquity of modern mass culture tend to make for automatized reactions and to weaken the forces of individual resistance.” In other words, mass culture is making people’s tastes become more similar, which is ideal for easy marketing.

Part 2: There are noteworthy “fads” in popular culture going around today, and also new trends, and evolved genres. When the television show “Survivor” was aired, it received immensely positive reactions from audiences who eagerly watched and enjoyed it. The genre of reality television was born, and all shows in this category have distinct formulas to follow as well as being similar to the original. Variants have been made to appeal to different people, as the original “Survivor” is not so popular today. But reality television still consists of an objective played out over the season (or sometimes a single show), a prize, and supposedly no script. Social dynamics are the focus, as people form alliances and betray one another. Since essentially the same thing is going on in every show of the category, formulas are being followed, and variants are made only for marketing considerations rather than any thoughtful change in format.

Also advertising is probably more prominent than ever. The link between advertising and the culture industry is crucial, as it ties money inextricably with production. Advertising has increased, since more television commercials are aired, and the internet is now becoming more and more clogged by advertisements. A large portion of these advertisements are for the culture industry itself. By expanding to the realm of the internet, even those who opt out of television and film can be forced to be exposed to advertisements for the very things they abstain from.

Another trend has been the placement of advertisements within films and shows themselves. In a few films today, the camera will spend a split second with just a view of a brand of bottled water, or billboards will be shown in a scene of a city with real products on them. The brand of car that a character drives will be mentioned or placed as a central focus in a subtle way. Corporations now pay to actually change the content of mass culture in their favor. This was not done since the era of corporate sponsorship of television shows, where a product like Geritol would be the only thing advertised during the entire show and there were no commercials. After commercials were introduced, advertisements were divorced from programs themselves. In “The Brady Bunch” for example, brand labels are visibly covered up or obscured and were never mentioned in the dialogue. Today brand names are often mentioned in the conversation among characters, even when not a part of paid advertisements, just due to sheer commercialization.

Part 3: “Those who produce the material follow, often grumblingly, innumerable requirements, rules of thumb, set patterns, and mechanisms of controls which by necessity reduce to a minimum the range of any kind of artistic self-expression.” The culture industry imposes rules on creativity. These rules effectively ban certain subject matter – the taboo, anything highly sexual (but some degree of sex is still sought), and anything that might be too offensive (racial slurs, profanity, nudity). The FCC bans some of this officially on broadcast media, which results in more risqué content in films than anywhere else. Yet there are still boundaries, a sort of self-imposed censorship so that the culture industry does not offend. This allows products to be more marketable. Other restrictions are genre-based. Starting a new genre is a long shot at best, so sticking to the tried-and-true, the cliché, and the stereotypical will actually result in more success and is therefore valued in popular culture. The genre is perceived by the public as an individual’s taste, and a statement of personality, when really it is a market and a sort of cookie cutter to make products out of. An example of a formulaic product would be reality television, which follows the formulae of the genre founder, “Survivor.”

Imaginative works can only be that way without any sort of formulas, restrictions, market considerations, or monetary assessments. A true artist has a message, and the art is a way to make a statement using aesthetics. Robert Mapplethorpe’s art was freely created. His work was so controversial that there was no market to capitalize on, yet he made it anyway. He did not let cultural restrictions on what is or is not appropriate to see affect his work. He followed no conventions, which led to his unique style.

The difference between freely created art and culture industry products is that the former can teach a message, and also can be interpreted. Thought is critical when creativity is viewed. Mass culture discourages thought and invites the audience to sit back and take a break from thinking too hard.

Sources:

Theodor Adorno, “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception”

Theodor Adorno, “How to Look at Television”