Mass Deception

We now depend on the media for entertainment. Whether we get that entertainment on television, the radio, or even from the Internet, they are all the same product disguised differently. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer describe what entertainment has become.  In summary, they argue that the world is given the illusion of free decisions and choices, but in reality they do not.  It is unfortunate that it took a reading to force me to think outside the box to see the illusion I have been in. It not only made me realize how much influence these products have on us, but how these elites are gaining profit from this.

 Art is usually referred to as a product thats main purpose is to show the expression of an artist. Art comes in many forms such as music, paintings, photography and even film. While it is difficult to find true forms of art, it still exists. Nevertheless, it is still hard to find a film and categorize it as art. as Adorno and Horkheimer point out: films success these days are not measured on an artist’s expressions , but on how much technology was used to produce that movie, how many stars actresses there are, and by the amount of modern products used.

 People do not watch the movie as a form of art anymore, but for leisure time. When comparing the many films, it is hard to distinguish between them as they are aimed at either making the audience feel better, or make the audience want to be associated with that film. It no longer becomes the artists’ expression to

the world, but the audiences’ expression of the movie. In capitalist system, it becomes just another relation between the consumer and the product. And like other relationships, it becomes another illusion that the consumer has a free choice to pick his film to watch. 

Artists who are in the film industry have no choice but to continue with this non-ending cycle as it is their only means of profit. Changing the discourse is difficult, especially since when movies different to those “normal” films are categorized as not entertaining. But since when was art meant to entertain its subjects. In terms of Foucault's words, the reality of the film industry has created its own discourse, and to challenge this discourse, we must act differently. Changing the discourse however is difficult because both the consumer and the producer rely on the other.

-OMG