2. Culture Club
Culture Industry - created by Adorno and Horkheimer
● Current popular culture through many forms of media is similar to a factory construction line
● Those who consume it are passive - they recognise it so they will pick it up again and again
● Everything is synthetic and planned
Something new or something old...
Songs enjoyed by a mass audience all follow the same repetitive sequences - there is nothing
spontaneous about it. This will eventually mindlessly encourage a purchase.
Justin Bieber - Has had many chart hits and produces catchy music. Following the same genre of pop
throughout most of his career, he has built up a massive fanbase that has stayed throughout his entire
career, mainly made up of teenage girls as he is conventionally attractive.
3. The media repeats itself
The repetition within the media sets a baseline for a mass audience and their expectations. New artists
normally live up to this set standard, however because they are new they become a cultural commodity for
a mass audience. Therefore, this turns into a distraction and new source of entertainment for a mass
audience for a little while. However, Adorno and Horkheimer were critisied for their theory because of
them appearing elitist.
Swipe Left
A mass audience will easily reject anything that doesn’t feel similar, which leads to pseudo individuality
being vital to the culture theory. New media claims to be “completely original”, when in actual fact they only
have small changes to make them appear original.
Ed Sheeran - He is a good example for this, as he makes amazing and incredibly popular music but isn’t
considered conventionally attractive due to his ginger hair and lazy eye.
4. Lock it behind you
The culture theory is often referred to have the “lock and key” model. Whilst they are mass produced, the
“key”(artist) appears to be too original for the “lock” (mass audience), despite being a perfect fit for it.
Overall, critically acclaimed products are easy manipulated for a capitalist environment.
Stands above all
An artist that may not fit into Adorno and Horkheimer’s theory is Bjork:
● Experimental and electro pop music that isn’t conventional
● Strange outfits and not conventional beauty/fashion
However, this could still be proven to have her fit into the theory because of her critical success over
many decades.
