The Culture industry plagues us. What Adorno and Horkheimer’s were discussing was far beyond their time. This concept of the culture industry was profound. The culture industry creates identical products that therefore produce homogeneity. This creates a mass culture that is identical. We all strive and participate in
this culture industry. We all buy products to look the same. We all buy clothes
to fit in and have the latest trend. There is no independent thinking within
the culture industry. It creates oppressive ways of thinking and acting if you
are unable to fit in due to race, culture, gender, appearance, class or other
factors. The culture industry creates false needs. These
false needs create alienation in us. This is what the culture industry does to a
society. Adorno and Horkheim describe the culture industry as a business and it
is. It is a business that is creating false needs and ideals to women for a
profit.
I would argue that the culture industry (Media/Consumerism) creates
homogeneity within society and therefore gives us a false sense of what beauty
is. The images we see every day are of the same type of women. These images that
we see are manufactured to create a singular kind of woman. Regardless of race
she is thin, beautiful, tall, long hair, perfect smile, young, glamorous hair
and makeup. I would argue that we don’t see many women of color represented on
magazines, but if we do she is fair skinned and long hair which typically is not
natural. Yet, these women we see in the media don’t represent what actual
women look like. We are falsely represented within the culture industry. The
average woman does not look like a supermodel. In the movie directed by Miss
Representation by Jennifer Siebel Newsome shows the consequences of the
culture industry on women’s bodies. Not only do the media contribute to the
false representation of women’s bodies. It contributes to the lack of women in
positions of power. If young girls only see advancement to the American dream by
their bodies and not their minds how will we ever be able to strive for
positions by not using our bodies as a tool for advancement? The images that we
see of women of power are always negative, or solely about her latest
fashion.
Women that are represented in the culture industry are often
hyper-sexualized and shown in submissive positions in media. The movie
represents the consequences and real life affects that the culture industry has
on young women and how they see themselves within society. The movie strives to
educate young women that these images are not accurate and we should not strive
to look like women in magazines. The Miss Representation challenges this
culture industry by criticizing the images that are allowed to be displayed. The
culture industry represents sex, rape, misogynistic ideals. This is unacceptable
way to be representing women. It creates a false reality of what it is to be a
woman and the ways that women should advance their careers and selves.
It is the culture industry that needs to change the representations of
women. These images are harming our culture. Young women’s aspirations and
ideals of self are limited when the culture industry only shows them a
homogenized woman. There is no changing women’s place within society without
changing the culture industry. It has to start with not buying into these false
needs and advertisements of what it is to be a woman. We need to use our power
as consumers to challenge the culture industry and change our positions as
women.