ChittyChittyBangBang Horkheimer/Adorno

I really enjoyed this article on the Culture Industry. It reminds me a bit of the topic I chose for my Theory Praxis paper. The two points in this article that I related to the most was the idea of production being ultimately the same and the fact that films are passed through a culture industry filter as well.

"But the differences, even between the more expensive and cheaper products from the same firm, are shrinking..." (43)
People tend to become attracted or attached to a certain brand and will purchase those items (even if they are more expensive) to either express their social/economical status or just because they have been convinced that it is the better item. Advertising can play a huge role in this. An example of this is water bottles, they are all essentially the same thing but people usually still have a preference. I almost always purchase Dasani and I'm not even sure why. I have heard that Dasani is the best for you and then I have heard that its actually really bad for you, I'm not sure if I think either of those claims makes sense. It reminds me of a Saturday Night Live skit I saw a few years back, a French waiter was going in the back and filling up glasses from a hose and telling them it was certain brands of water. Of course the couple could not even tell a difference but got extremely upset when they found out they weren't drinking bottled water. People also tend to want the item such as a car with the most gadgets even if it serves the same purpose as something cheaper. This goes along with Habermas's theory of "the cult of the new".

Another point I found to be true was about film. Films often create the illusion that that is what real life is like. People start expecting things to happen like they do in the movies and get frustrated when they don't. This goes for images seen on television, in magazines, etc... People assume they need to look like and act like the celebrities or the models they see every day in the media. The power of the culture industry is deeply seeded into society.