CULTURE INDUSTRY

We have started our lesson as the x-factor judges. I, Charlotte and Emily were team Tulisa, and therefore we had to speak for her.  This has given us the taste of what the judges look in the performers. We have discovered that the judges have to talk about their vocals/looks, however the thoughts that g through their heads are 'How many records will they sell? What type of audiences would they attract? How many will hit number 1sin the charts?' .  As we have gone along with the lesson we have discovered x-factor being a mainstream, money making machine.

THE CULTURE INDUSTRY
Adorno and Horkheimer have came up with the Culture Industry term, which cultural items were produced was analogous to how other industries manufactured vast quantities of consumer goods.They argued that the culture industry exhibited as an assembly line character which could be observed in the synthetic, planned method of turning out its products.
And example from the x-factor, would be JLS. They have not only released singles to sell, but merchandise too. E.G - Dolls,Condoms, Bedroom accessories.

                                          

Adorno and Horkheimer adopted the term 'Culture Industry' to argue that the way in which cultural items were produced was analogous to how other industries manufactured vast quantities of consumer goods.Their view of cultural production has been portrayed as the pessimistic lament of cultural elitists who were dismayed at what they perceived to be the homogeneity and vulgarity of mass taste. 

X - Factor can be compared to a machine, due to it's artists such as JLS as they have went into acapella with an R&B artists, however as they have been in the process of x-factor they have became an average boy band with the genre of Pop. X- factor is a capitalist institution which is seeking to keep control of the status quo.

The capitalist corporation seems to enjoy an almost omnipotent and the creative artists are not separate from but are directly connected to this system of production.

Capitalist : an economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately owned or corporately owned.

THE X-FACTOR MACHINE

Adorno and Horkheimer linked the idea of the culture industry of a mass culture in which cultural production had become a routine, which has made undemanding cultural commodities which in turn resulted in a type of consumption that was standardized, distracted and passive.

 

STANDARDIZATION

Adorno and Horkheimer argued that all products produced by the culture industry have exhibited standardized features. Adorno said that songs that have became successful over time were often referred to as standards, a category that clearly drew attention to their formulaic character. Nothing is spontaneous about the process of cultural production: it has become a routine operation that can be carried out in an office by the application of specific formulae.
Boy bands such as Take that, Westlife and one Direction have all went through this machine. Girls are attracted by all of these artists and they all create commercial music.

PSEUDO INDIVIDUALITY

Adorno and Horkheimer were also critical of what they referred to as pseudo individuality. By this they meant the way that the culture industry assembled products that made claims to originally but which when examined more critically exhibited little more than superficial differences.

Adorno and Horkeimer evoked the image of the lock and key - an item that is mass produces in millions, whose only uniqueness lies in very minor modifications.