The
Frankfurt
School
• relationship between communication and culture
should be evident to you
• Studies on the impact of technology
• Studies on the effect of media images on
behaviour
• Studies on the effect of advertising
• Studies on the character of modernity and postmodernity
• Studies about “mass culture”
• The Frankfurt
School is
interested in
questions about
how popular
culture is
produced
Theodor Adorno
• Social systems are put in
place to ensure that
people will continue to
manipulate and dupe
people into buying the
myth that society is
moving forward, while
domination continues
without resistance.
• Coined the term
“Cultural Industry”
“STANDARDIZATION”
• Art succumbs to formula,
genre
• Plotlines follow predictable
paths
• Time and “look” of artistic
works must conform to
various standards
• All driven by commercial
imperatives to maximize
profit
“PSEUDO-INDIVIDUALIZATION”
• Capitalism conveys “myth” of
the individual and of the
“rebel”
• People want to express
themselves as being
different from the “crowd”
• Need to “stick out” creates
new market opportunities
• For Adorno, all culture is
“pre-digested” with
individuals in mind
“MANIPULATIVE”
• With “scientific”
knowledge of the
audience, cultural
creators can manipulate
storylines to produce
certain effects
• Can create content that
distracts people from
more serious issues
facing society at large
• NO WAY OUT OF
CULTURAL
INDUSTRY…VERY
PESSIMISTIC
Walter Benjamin
German-Marxist thinker
The “aura” of art is lost
in its reproduction.
Mechanical reproduction
brought the work of art
into countless different
situations but the quality
of the artistic presence
always depreciated.
Reproduction in music
The Mash Up
This also applies to film…
 There is not truly an actor's
“aura” but is merely
replaced by the "artificial
build-up of the personality”
thus “the cult of the moviestar fostered by the money
of the film industry”
 The aura in the original art
work is lost…however, the
original artwork is now
accessible to the masses
(as long as it is not merely a
replacement for their own
existence).
Key points in Benjamin’s work
Art is designed for reproducibility
Film is built on artificial “personality”
“reality” is an artifice
If an art piece is authentic it is valued and
represents “true” art…remember,
postmodernism does not believe in truth
and Marxists don’t believe in private
ownership…so this makes sense given
Benjamin’s background.
Jurgen Habermas
Possibly the most
important living philosopher
Key idea is “The Public
Sphere”
"a network for
communicating information
and points of view" which
eventually transforms them
into a public opinion.
In theory the public sphere should exist
outside of church and state (therefore no
subjective opinion)
Communication plays key role in
democracy
Both sides must agree to “truth claims”
Sees fellow Frankfurt scholars as
pessimistic
Modern uses of Habermas
The internet
The Press