post-it note, Horkheimer & Adorno

“Those in charge no longer take much trouble to conceal the structure, the power of which increases the more bluntly its existence is admitted” (42).

As the ideology of commodifed culture become realized, the power that culture has over the population increases. This increase is due to the understanding that the creators of culture have motives, but the population continues to consume the culture amidst these understandings. And so, just as Hebdige discussed the “conversion of subcultural signs into mass-produced media,” the new waves of understanding the media’s purpose in our lives should give more people a reason not to consume this type of media, although a demand for media remains. This is Horkheimer and Adorno’s concept of the passive consumer. Even with knowledge of the dangerous things around us available, we continue to live the way we want to, not in the way that is best for us.

Benjamin said “mankind’s alienation has reached such a degree that it can experience its own destruction as an aesthetic pleasure of the first order” - this is what is occurring when we find pleasure in the media (34). This is what Lyotard meant when he said ‘pleasure derives from pain” (43). The destruction of a character’s reputation on a show creates culture that relieves the pain of daily life. This is what Horkheimer and Adorno call this the “compulsory intellectualization of culture” (56). When culture is supposed to be mimicked by media, it is framed in such a way that the real is better than real. As this progression continued, similar to the progression of subcultures into mainstream culture and the bad in media propel the masses interests in the media. Entertainment used to add splendor and interest to educational material, but Horkheimer and Adorno argue that the original purpose of the media has been forgotten by the passive consumer.