October 29th - pre-class Adorno, Serendipity LATE

“Culture today is infecting everything with sameness” 41
The first thing I thought when I read this quote is that it can be related to Habermas. He believes that nothing can actually ever be different because it gets swallowed up by main stream cultured and copied and reproduced (like Benjamins notion) immediately after. The largest section of music for example is “Alternative”. If it is so alternative and unlike anything else then why is it the biggest section and so many people listen to it thinking that they themselves are so different and alternative? Everything is fake. The way that we perceive a product and the aura it has because of the name brand and because of the image it gives you is the reason it makes you feel so special and different. For example, if you see an eyeliner that is by a Walgreens brand you will see it as just eyeliner. But if you buy one at a specialty store with a well known brand name with an ad next to it of a beautiful model you will feel that you are special and therefore different. When in reality, everything is made out of the same batch, and it is “fake” that you feel it is different just because of the name brand and the whole image associated with it, and therefore with you. You may feel like you are an individual but you are just following everyone else, just like there is no avant gardism anymore, and how much of what be we believe to be concrete is not even reality. He also explains that since everything is the same, we have to realize the hidden codes in them and not buy into it. This is why he says that if are entertained by something, you cant be critical of it.