Adorno and Horkhiemer coined the term Culture Industry that focuses on the creation of identical things through mass production in popular culture. According to Adorno and Horkheimer, technology has gained power over the society through things like movies, television, magazines, and radio. With this power over the society, the elite of the Culture Industry can control what things get exposed to the public and created false needs for the consumers of Culture Industry through media. False needs are human needs that can only be satisfied through products of mass consumptions. Since Culture Industry dictates what the public is exposed to, much of the things that get mass-produced are a variation of the same thing, this in turn leaves little to a consumer’s choice. Adorno and Horkhiemer make the argument that Culture Industry does not see consumers as critical thinkers and assumes that all people of a society are not individual but identical. People as consumers can see the control Culture Industry has over their limited choices and creation of false needs but consumers can not put an end to the power that the Culture Industry possess. Since consumers are not considered critical thinkers, the Culture Industry is oppressive to individual thinking and autonomous life.
Culture Industry is everywhere in current society, it rules over what we as consumers watch, like, and buy. One example of the control Culture Industry has over consumers can be seen in the music industry. Musical artist think of themselves as individuals and unique but with a closer look it’s obvious that musical artist are basically small variations of the same thing. Artists like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna try very hard to be outrageous and different. Although if we as consumers play close attention, all these mentioned artist are basically the same. They write pop music meant to be played on Top 40 charts on the radio. They also all try to make their image different by dressing outside of the norm in award shows or anywhere in the public eye. But since they all try to stand out through abnormal outfits, overall they become identical because they try to stand out in the same way. Also, these pop stars try to venture out of the music industry into other platforms of mass consumption. One of the things that I noticed these artists have in common is that they all have their own fragrances. For the artist, having a fragrance is another way of getting their name out into the public. At the same time, producing products outside of music is something that most artists are doing nowadays. Again showing that every pop star, through they see themselves as unique individuals, are just small distinctions of the same persona.
Culture Industry seems to produce the same type of artist to the public but with a slight disparity. Each artist is meant to feel like an individual and consumers are meant to see them uniquely compare to other artists in the public eye but as we can see almost all aspects of these pop stars are the same. It’s safe to stay that when the next pop star rises we can expect them to try to create a sense of uniqueness through their appearance, create pop music that will sound slightly the different than what is currently receiving airtime, and will most likely venture off to other products such as fragrances. Although as consumers we can see the Culture Industry’s mass production of basically the identical pop star, we are not able to find it within ourselves to put a stop to the Culture Industry. Maybe it’s our sense of hopelessness or the sense that the Culture Industry is too powerful to be overthrown that discourages consumers to bring about change.
Culture Industry is everywhere in current society, it rules over what we as consumers watch, like, and buy. One example of the control Culture Industry has over consumers can be seen in the music industry. Musical artist think of themselves as individuals and unique but with a closer look it’s obvious that musical artist are basically small variations of the same thing. Artists like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna try very hard to be outrageous and different. Although if we as consumers play close attention, all these mentioned artist are basically the same. They write pop music meant to be played on Top 40 charts on the radio. They also all try to make their image different by dressing outside of the norm in award shows or anywhere in the public eye. But since they all try to stand out through abnormal outfits, overall they become identical because they try to stand out in the same way. Also, these pop stars try to venture out of the music industry into other platforms of mass consumption. One of the things that I noticed these artists have in common is that they all have their own fragrances. For the artist, having a fragrance is another way of getting their name out into the public. At the same time, producing products outside of music is something that most artists are doing nowadays. Again showing that every pop star, through they see themselves as unique individuals, are just small distinctions of the same persona.
Culture Industry seems to produce the same type of artist to the public but with a slight disparity. Each artist is meant to feel like an individual and consumers are meant to see them uniquely compare to other artists in the public eye but as we can see almost all aspects of these pop stars are the same. It’s safe to stay that when the next pop star rises we can expect them to try to create a sense of uniqueness through their appearance, create pop music that will sound slightly the different than what is currently receiving airtime, and will most likely venture off to other products such as fragrances. Although as consumers we can see the Culture Industry’s mass production of basically the identical pop star, we are not able to find it within ourselves to put a stop to the Culture Industry. Maybe it’s our sense of hopelessness or the sense that the Culture Industry is too powerful to be overthrown that discourages consumers to bring about change.