What is Enlightenment?
According to Adorno and Horkheimer in “Dialectic of Enlightenment “(1944) enlightenment can be seen as the advance of thought liberating human from the fear of the unknown. Knowledge also existed before enlightenment, but in forms of magic and mythology. Enlightenment is the liberation from the blind belief and that way man could use reason and rationality to become the masters of nature.
What is the meaning and function of “myth” in Adorno and Horkheimer’s argument?
The knowledge before the enlightenment is what Adorno and Horkheimer defines as “myth”.
It tries to understand the nature and the world just like enlightenment but is superstitious, contains magical elements and accepts the unknown with individual experiences as facts.
What are the “old” and “new” media that are discussed in the Dialectic of Enlightenment?
“Old” (at the time current?) media for Adorno and Horkheimer is the film, radio, newspapers, magazines etc. Im not sure about what the authors would define as “new” media. I guess television could be seen as a “new” media because it was seen as a synthesis between radio and film. Television were just getting started when the book was written in the 1940s.
What is meant by “culture industry”?
Adorno and Horkheimer use the term “culture industry” as the industrial production of culture.
When the capitalist society mass product culture everything becomes homogenized.
Since the media industry, like any other industry, is economic driven there is no need to come up with new creative concepts when they can just mass-produce standardised items over and over again to a mass public.
What is the relationship between mass media and “mass deception”, according to Adorno and Horkheimer?
According to Horkheimer and Adorno the culture industry produces products that are all designed so they prevent any active thinking on the part of the spectators. Consumers only become statistics where the individuality is long gone and they are just under the control of the capital, being analysed and put into different social and economic groups.
Please identify one or two concepts/terms that you find particularly interesting. Motivate your choice.
I found the pseudo-individuality interesting. That the audience is lead to believe they are making free, individual choices and that the products and media they consume are all different to each other. But most products in the same category are basically the same. This pseudo-individuality hides this truth by trying to make the audience link their product to different meanings and images to make it seem different from the others. So even though the product is created to be as accessible to the most people possible they are still trying to make that the consumer feel its standing out of the crowd.
When reading the answers to question three in all the blog entries, it seems as if it can be interpreted in two ways, either you talk about the actual medium, as you have, like radio, film etc. Others, like i did, interpreted it as two medias of pre and past-culture industry where the old media could be acknowledged as art and had other motives. The new media came with the culture industry and standardization. I don't know if there is any right or wrong but it will be interesting to discuss on the seminar.
SvaraRaderaI also think the term pseudo-individuality is interesting. I feel like you have heard this speech about standardization many times before from various sources, both old and new, just as Adorno and Horkheimer tries to say. I feel like it's a bit exaggerated but maybe i'm just one of those that is lead to believe that all the media is different.
I like you comments on the pseudo-individuality and I think it is good for people to make this reflection every now and then to take a step back and reflect if their choices really are "theirs". You could argue that the pseudo-choices are harmless if it still makes the individual happy and feel like they choose for themselves. I mean, you only get upset about things you didn't know about After you got told about the "reality". Before the truth you might have lived happy anyway. Ignorance is bliss indeed.
SvaraRadera