Adorno on the Culture Industry (Part Two)

Apr 04, 2016, 12:00 PM

Continuing on Theodor Adorno's "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" (1944). We cover topics within art and entertainment like the role of style: You think you're being so original with your personal style, but Adorno sees you has having already been brainwashed into being a clone, so your "authentic" expression is anything but. Also, humor is not, as you might think, a way of bringing an audience together in solidarity, but is the "eruption of barbarism!" And sex in the popular culture: what a tease! Manufactured entertainment products can't even get tragedy right! They just condition us into accepting our crappy situation.

End song: "All Too Familiar," from around 1992 with all instruments by Mark Linsenmayer, released on The MayTricks. Get the whole album free. #philosophy #adorno #horkheimer #culture #enlightenment #capitalism #ideology

Go to the blog: http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/2016/04/04/episode-136-adorno-on-the-culture-industry-part-two/