Theodor Adorno's "Culture Industry Reconsidered"

[@Leibo07]

Alas, I gotta admit that I'm kinda "grateful" to culture industry. My first acquaintance with and later love for modern music and art all came via mass media like lp's, cd's, hifi, pc, even television. Astounded that the avant-garde always kinda kept its place in the catalogues.

[@Blackbeltsongwriting]

Thank you for this interesting summary - it was really helpful. :-)

[@lakshmisundar412]

Aura seems to be very similar with Derrida's term trace

[@ooo-rl7zt]

great video

[@gRosh08]

Yes! Adorno dissent!

[@leomoore3597]

Seems somewhat contradictory that Adorno consistently opposed consistency and valued spontaneity, yet he did not like Jazz, which is the essence of creative spontaneity and in it's more avant-garde forms represented a subversive musical model that was not generally embraced by the dominant culture industry !

[@JimJWalker]

"Aura" is not a good word for the concept he is trying to relate. I'll edit back here if I can think of a better term.

[@richardouvrier3078]

Creative sponteneity crushed by capitalism.

[@LesterBrunt]

Isn’t the aura just the power position of the artist? Sure there is more presence when you are 1:1 with an artist and they improvise a piece of music for you and yes part of that gets lost if you press play on a digital recording so you have something to listen to as you do the dishes. But isn’t it also a bit of gatekeeping to portray that as something negative? I think it is fair to say art is not the sole property of artists. Art is a cultural thing, it is created by a web of co-operation and shared meanings. It is not this “genius” that gets “divine intervention” and provides the rest of society with something “pure” but a co-operation to reflect and provide meaning to culture. Sure I’m not in touch with the Mona Lisa and yet I have seen it a thousand times and also a couple in depth videos on the meaning, techniques and history. If this reproduction wouldn’t exist I would’ve never seen it. Similarly I have listened to hundreds of hours of obscure classical music in a way that would be impossible just a couple decades ago, let alone before technological reproduction. For the enjoyers of art it seems to have only brought upsides, they can listen to any music as much as they want whenever they want wherever they want, it is utopian levels of emancipation. The only ones who are not getting benefits are the artists/distributors/stage-owners, they are losing their exclusivity and thus their power position. Which is a good thing. Even before the culture industry the artist had way too much power. The cult of geniuses is partly why the culture industry was so effective. Because art was a representation of “the genius” it was easily marketable once technology allowed for mass commodification. At least in the middle ages they had the humility to not put the composers on a pedestal, albeit for the wrong reasons. Then when nationalism came along it turned sinister and art was used to establish superiority over ‘others’. Sure French have some good art but they aren’t “real geniuses” like the Germans, a French just doesn’t have the depth of the Genius German mind, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart are just “the best”. That sort of thing. Which sets a solid foundation for commodification later on. The top charts, the best of (insert genre), oh the never before released “real” Jimi Hendrix demo’s that will be available in the new documentary that you can watch on (insert paid streaming service), the performances on 1km wide stages with 500.000 ‘worshippers’ - of which 80% can’t even properly hear the music but are there because you have to experience a ‘real’ (insert popular artist) concert -, the talent shows, the desire to be ‘the best’, the most popular, the biggest seller. The role of the artist is predatory, to take as much life force as possible. The role of the listener was complete submission and worship. Technological reproduction has reached a point where the artist has a lot of trouble keeping grip on their fans. They are losing their position of power. Instead of dominating the listener they should find a way to co-operate. Soon A.I. technology will make even the realm of composing completely accessible to the average person. And by soon I mean a couple years, it is already so good that you can make indefinite music that sounds very convincing with a relatively simple script. The time of the worshipped artist is fading and I think it should be welcomed. The aura was always undeserved. When I think of Bach of course I have a never ending fascination with the music but more so than the man himself I think of that community. To go to that church every Sunday and participate with the singing and hearing the specifically composed cantata’s by people you know, the young people who worked and learned at Bach’s house, the beer halls where there was lots of music played recreationally where Bach also sometimes went to, the markets where everybody went to. Bach wasn’t traveling the world for fame, money and fans but existed in society as a part of it. That society I find so much more fascinating than just the man himself. I doubt Bach would’ve been able to exist in 20th century hyper capitalist society. That music wasn’t created by just one man but the whole of the society at that time. At least making music for the purpose of “God” keeps a sense if humility towards society. I think that is what is required of the artist now that their aura is fading to nothing. Ditch the god stuff and keep the humility. Instead of seeing society as a pool for potential life source to drain with your product try to look for ways you can serve society, improve it, involve it. Instead of a music festival where a bunch of people go watch a few ‘chosen ones’ on a big stage try a music festival where the listeners make the music and are guided and joined by skilled musicians.

[@sterlingwalter5971]

really dislike the guy who writes Minima Moralia, though yes there are many good lines and thoughts. According to Weininger it is 'Immoral' to regret (time is uni-lateral), and I agree with him. All Adorno does is regret, regret regret, it's nauseating. big whiner.

[@emresancak3574]

and if you read Negative Dialectics it is worse than Minima Moralia