Adorno Culture Industry Theory

Adorno (1903-69)argued that capitalism fed people with the products of a 'culture industry' -the opposite of 'true' art - to keep them passively satisfied and politicallyapathetic.Adorno saw thatcapitalism had not become more precarious or close to collapse, as Marx hadpredicted. Instead, it had seemingly become more entrenched. Where Marx hadfocussed on economics, Adorno placed emphasis on the role of culture insecuring the status quo.Popular culture was identified as the reason for people's passive satisfactionand lack of interest in overthrowing the capitalist system.Adorno suggestedthat culture industries churn out a debased mass ofunsophisticated, sentimental products which have replaced the more 'difficult'and critical art forms which might lead people to actuallyquestion sociallife.Falseneeds arecultivated in people by the culture industries. These are needs which can beboth created and satisfied by the capitalist system, and which replace people's'true' needs - freedom, full expression of human potential and creativity,genuine creative happiness.Commodityfetishism (promoted bythe marketing, advertising and media industries) means that social relationsand cultural experiences are objectified in terms of money. We are delighted bysomething because of how much it cost.Popular media andmusic products are characterised by standardisation (they arebasically formulaic and similar) and pseudo-individualisation (incidentaldifferences make them seem distinctive, but they're not).Products of the culture industry may be emotional or apparently moving,but Adorno sees this as cathartic - we might seek some comfort in a sad film orsong, have a bit of a cry, and then feel restored again.Boiled down to itsmost obvious modern-day application, the argument would be that televisionleads people away from talking to each other or questioning the oppression intheir lives. Instead they get up and go to work (if they are employed), comehome and switch on TV, absorb TV's nonsense until bedtime, and then the dailycycle starts again.



I agree with Adorno's theory to some level yet one of the main issues i have with this theory is that it is a Zeitgeist , a theory of its time. When this theory was constructed society was going though a major social change and the influence of the media started to occur and during this period it would have been frowned upon when typical forms of entertainment involved classical music, art, and reading novels or play wrights. However, within today's society people rarely experience similar forms of entertainment and extreme materialism is considered high culture because it reflects a sense of wealth. In addition TV and Film has a vast number of categories and genres. In some cases typical soap operas such as "Eastenders" would be considered low class whereas,intellectual documentaries including "Frozen Planet" or artistic motion pictures such as "Titanic" which has won a number of awards can be considered high class according to the media. Overall, the view on what is deemed high or low class changes over time with society. 


Adorno would argue that the horror trailer that i have created is Low Art as it is distracting from reality and is a product that advertises mass consumption and the purchase of merchandise and tickets. Adorno would also state that "Death Jam" provides no intellectual benefit, to which i would further agree and state that it is a form of diversion and to a younger audience. Fiction is commonly used as a form of story telling to many audiences father than Non Fiction. Non Fiction is portrayed in the forms of documentaries and educational novels.