Bubbles-11/1

In our class discussions this week we focused mainly on ideology, hegemony and culture. We discussed how the media uses ideology to manipulate their audience into believing ideas that are set by the ruling class. I found the Adorno and Horkmeier reading to be very helpful in understanding the medias ways of manipulation. The quotes that we went over in class on Thursday helped me connect a lot of different theories and helped me get a better grasp on ideology and hegemony.

My quote in class stated, “ The concept of genuine style becomes transparent in the culture industry as the aesthetic equivalent power.” Here Adorno is explaining that “style” has become a way of acquiring power. As Hedbige would say style naturally becomes a way to acquire social authority. I find this idea to be extremely prevalent in our culture today, products are not sold any more; style is. For example, Jimmy Choo, and extremely luxurious shoe and handbag brand, whose products are hand made from the finest leather and sell for hundreds and thousands of dollars, recently released a new line at H&M, a fast fashion store, selling “quality and fashion at the best price.” The Jimmy Choo line for H&M is not made with the same materials, or talent that their regular line is made of, so why would H&M collaborate with Jimmy Choo? Because in this culture and our ideology tells us that just the name “Jimmy Choo” means better, luxury, even if they are made out of the same materials and the made by the same hands that the regular line at H&M is made from. This relates to Adorno’s idea that “mechanically differentiated products are ultimately all the same.” The H&M line and the Jimmy Choo for H&M line are mechanically all the same, yet the products with the Jimmy Choo sticker are sold for more and are viewed as more luxurious. There is sameness between everything that is produced yet the media uses ideology to make us believe that the products are differentiated.