Welcome To The Machine: A Critical Approach To Popular Culture

Jenkins talks about how the consumption of media products is a collective process, in other words, the collective intelligence is seen as an alternative source of media power. He describes how within popular culture, the collective meaning making is shaping and changing the ways religion, education, laws, politics, advertising and how the military operate (4). Jenkins discusses a process called “convergence of modes”, he explains that media and communication are becoming interconnected like the telephone and television.

The culture industry affects everything in today’s society. Adorno states, “The whole world is passed through the filter of the culture industry” (99). Everywhere people go, there are billboards, commercials, and advertisements that demand their attention. Before seeing a movie, one must sit through previews of other movies that may interest them, as the theater hopes that the moviegoer returns to watch another movie. In the culture industry, people no longer exist as individuals. They only exist as objects that increase the wealth of the big business owners that control this capitalistic society. Because no one contests the existence of the culture industry, the culture industry can continue to exist. About the film and radio industries, Adorno states, “They call themselves industries, and the published figures for their directors’ incomes quell any doubts about the social necessity of their finished products” (95). Creating unique and groundbreaking films in today’s world is considered “risky,” and filmmakers would rather create sequels to films that were successful in the box office. People excitedly consume these sequels and the directors make huge profits, thereby ensuring yet another sequel to be made. Adorno also points out that the film and radio

Mass Media forms such as television, radio, and the press are predominantly owned by the bourgeoisie, increasing the likelihood that the media is filled with capitalist ideologies encoded in the texts to be decoded and consumed by the masses. The extract ‘Media as Manipulation? Marxism and Ideology’ from ‘Media, Culture and Society: An Introduction’ by P. Hodkinson (2011) explores several Marxist and Neo-Marxist perspectives on mass media. It also discusses the ways in which the media influences life in a capitalist society. This summary will provide a critical review of the extract and the various perspectives it presents.

“The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception” by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer is a pivotal article in history that changed the way in which many communications scholars viewed media. Both authors were members of the Frankfurt School, a school of thought which looked further into Karl Marx’s theories about capitalism and the issues of mass production. Published in 1944, Adorno and Horkheimer revealed their beliefs that the media, much like the economy, is becoming mass produced, and is therefore turning people in society into media-consuming robots. Industrialization created work lives for people in which they would work on only one part of a larger machine. As a result, they felt less involved in the completion of the project as a whole, and therefore felt less pride in their jobs and their lives in general. Instead, these people turned to media and pop culture so that they would feel more fulfillment within their lives. Adorno and Horkheimer believed that these people had a reduced capacity for original thought because media is now force feeding them the ideas of what they can think and feel. This essay will prove that although Adorno and Horkeimer’s points were justified through the eyes of authors George Lipsitz, Lev Manovich, and Susan J. Douglas, there are still exceptions to their theories that they do not account for.

The most common and well-discussed theory of ownership and control of the mass media is that of the Marxists’. This theory illustrates the power of the media within a society and the influence the cultural diversity holds within it. In this essay I intend to discuss the Marxist theories of the mass media, its ownership and its control; and to draw upon the extensive research and opinions voiced about Marxist media theories as well as how the Marxist theories of media place the population in a view that shows that they are easily manipulated.

Everyone within a society has his or her own individual concerns in life. Some people, however, are occasionally looked down more by others, depending on if their problems are seriously destructive to the society or not. An often time in doing so, these people are manipulated into a dominant ideology which represents arguments about whether things are of optimistic or pessimistic standards in our civilization. This set of central principles, ideology, produces particular manners and offer ethical regulations by which one’s dealings can be evaluated. In fact, the media production business appears to be the focal resource that utilizes the governing beliefs by constructing imaginary medium contacts, appealing to massive audiences to reflect

Although both readings were enlightening, Wilson, B. (2013) “Popular culture: Shaping and reflecting who we are”, had more of an impact on me, as I can relate to it in my own life. How has pop culture and society played a role in the evolution of acceptance and the “American Dream?

According to Rethinking Popular Culture and Media, popular culture is the Polaroid snapshot or Facebook photo page that documents our lives in the social world; it is the backdrop of day to day life. The role of web/technology provides all the shared popular culture experience. Children are the targeted audience. Children ages 2-11 see at least 25,000 advertisements on TV alone, a figure that does not include product placement. (Marshall, Sensoy, Para 3,2011) Whereas media of previous generations may have referred to newspaper, magazines and books, today’s media includes an explosion of online/global networking systems (Twitter, Facebook, Bebo, YouTube). With society having numerous ways to see and share popular culture, access through so many

The concept of hegemony is used to capture the many ways in which a society’s culture is organized such that it makes certain practices appear so normal that we freely consent to them. (Dillon, 2014) This concept can be identified as the central issue that Horkheimer addresses. This promotion of a culture of sameness suppresses individuality and variation. Television does not “bring the entire world into our homes” as much as it moves everybody who is watching to the same place and into the same events. (Wexler, 1991) Critical theorists conclude that mass consumer society produces a new form of totalitarianism, a cultural totalitarianism. Cultural totalitarianism is the repression of diversity in the expression of individual needs and opinions that is at odds with those mass marketed. (Dillon, 2014) Even though cultural totalitarianism accurately describes how our society is today, there are still individuals who actively reject mass media and consumer culture. Horkheimer’s critical theory allows us to create an emancipated society that is autonomous from the controlling demands of competitive

Adorno and M. Horkheimer’s article, “The Culture Industry” they discuss the way culture has become commodified and changes the perception of the audience. For example in Hollywood films, many movies are given various titles but the overall production of the film seems to form a unified and repetitive outlook. We as the audience begin to lose the cultural aspect and meaning that is associated with these films. They argue that the commodification of culture has come to form an entirely new capitalist society that seems to focus on the domination of the medium rather than the nature of humanities cultural, social and moral values. Both of these articles draw on points of reproduction and its affect on society, but they also differ in the means of what is being created through this loss of tradition and aura. Benjamin talks about a new perception being formed through this loss whereas Adorno and Horkheimer emphasize that this loss of culture is not providing new perceptions of art through film and photography by the use of the camera, but instead is commodifying the aesthetic qualities that come to form an

In the text, “Popular Culture” by David Pattie talks about the programs in television, affairs going on around the world and the intersection between popular

Economism, or vulgar Marxism, is a key feature in explaining the media’s role according to Marx. This is also referred to as the base/superstructure model. In economism, “the economic base of society is seen as determining everything else in the superstructure, including social, political, and intellectual consciousness.” (Marxist Media Theory 1) This maintains that the media is used as the base of society. Society is referred to as the superstructure. Clearly, media shapes society even today. Since consumers rely on the media for information and entertainment, (ex. Television and radio new, magazines, newspapers, Internet), they are shaped by whatever forms of media they chose to be an audience to. The media manipulates everything from popular fashion to the food people consume.

Media influence is the force by which ideas are injected into people’s lives shaping the very culture of society. This influence is masqueraded through hidden media message, resulting in a change in its audience which can be positive or negative, abrupt or gradual, short term or long term. Although mass media’s influential effect can reach a wide ranged audience as an agent of socialization the responsibility to contain what it releases has not been of importance. “The media’s socially significant obligations are formally ignored.” (A.S. Zapesotskii, 2011, p 9). Media messages can be exerted through many different outlets such as TV shows, music, movies, commercials, news, magazines, games which are all gravitated to entertain audiences ultimately offering personal gratification that can sometimes blur the lines between reality and

The past two years has seen the media landscape undergo significant developments. New technology, such as the Internet, has fuelled the emergence of new media forms and schisms within the media industry. Mario Armando Lavandeira’s Hollywood celebrity gossip website, PerezHilton.com, exploits a new brand of journalism – blogging. There are innumerable media theories which could be used to analyse such a specific example of the media. This essay will explore Mass Culture Critique and its critical relation to PerezHilton.com by investigating mass communication concepts such as hegemony, aesthetic levels, economic motivation, and passive consumers.

Popular culture is generally believed to be comprised of a variety of elements. For example, popular culture covers the most contemporary and instant aspects of our lives. These aspects can often show the characteristics of rapid change, especially in today’s highly technological and informative world in which, people are highly influenced by the universal media. Certain standards of behaviour and common beliefs are reflected in pop culture. Because of its cohesion, pop culture both influences and reflects people’s daily life. Moreover, brands can reach iconic pop status. However, these aspects are not constant and may change rapidly. (Abbott and Sapsford, 1987).