Reading 2: Media and Power

If you thought that Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media was unreadable, that's nothing compared to this. You will need to take the week off work just to flick through it, let alone understand it. First time around, I gave up after the first 8 pages.
 At least there is a somewhat easier reading in Media Studies: Texts, Production and Context (2009). It describes how those with power over media messages are the ones who own or control large media organisations. Yes, that means Rupert Murdoch. It describes power as "the ability to determine the actions of others, as well as our ability to determine our own actions" (Long et. al., 2009: 278). It also mentions that those who "exercise" power are the dominant individual/group and those who are "exercised" are "subordinate" individuals/groups. These give the idea of two related aspects which are power of control and power of self-determination. The power of control is described as being the ability to determine the actions of others and the power of self-determination is the idea of liberty from exercise of power. There are two ways of exercising power - physical force, such as violence or threats (but this does require effort and resources), and force of ideas, where those who are subordinates accept their own subjugation. If there was a hierarchy of power, it is no surprise that the powerful individuals are at the top and there is a large number of "subordinates" at the bottom.
People can easily acquire social power through the media, as it can offer self-expression, self-realisation and personal reward. Media can be so powerful that it can operate on different levels, mainly emotional, psychological and physiological. It has a stronger influence on those who are vulnerable. This includes the theory that TV, pop music, video games, etc. are bad for you, due to their rare violent content. This reminds me of a particular episode of The Simpsons. However, there are two examples I want to bring up at this point. The first was the Columbine High School Massacre on 20th April 1999, when two students killed 13 people before taking their own lives; they were influence by violent video games, films such as The Matrix (1999) and their taste in music (KMFDM, Rammstein and Marilyn Manson). The other is the Judas Priest case, when in 1990 two teenage heavy metal fans tried to commit suicide; one did succeed. This brought a case against the band, on the premise that their music contained hidden messages, but this was thrown out after the lead singer demonstrated that most records could contain hidden messages. This is highlighted in Longhurst's Popular Music & Society (1995). People can put bans on certain mediums if that are thought to encourages audiences to copy them. The most famous example in my opinion is Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971). British authorities believed that its extreme sexual violence would inspire copycat crimes. In fact, a fourteen-year-old-boy was in court on a charge of manslaughter. That ,and complains about a rape in which the attacker were singing  Singin' in the Rain, is why Stanley Kubrick asked Warner Bros. to withdraw the film from British distribution in 1972.

• "To try and fasten any responsibility on art as the cause of life seems to me to put the case the wrong way around. Art consists of reshaping life but it does not create life, nor cause life. Furthermore, to attribute powerful suggestive qualities to a film is at odds with the scientifically accepted view that, even after deep hypnosis, in a posthypnotic state, people cannot be made to do things which are at odds with their natures." - Stanley Kubrick

It reappeared in cinemas and on VHS/DVD in 1999, shortly after Stanley Kubrick's death. Other famous films which experienced similar situations have included The Last House on the Left (1972) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was uncut, due to its lack of blood and it is more about suggestion and the atmosphere of horror. However, The Last House on the Left was refused a certificate by the BBFC and was banned in the 1980s and 90s. In 2002, the BBFC decided they would offer a certificate, but 16 seconds worth of cuts to scenes of sexual violence had to be made. The BBC film Mark Kermode made a case that it should be allowed to be seen uncut, describing it as an important historical piece of American horror cinema. After this the BBFC decided to double the number of cuts.
Here comes my attempt to understand Adorno and Horkheimer. There are some parallels between The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception (1979) and Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media (2001 [1964]). Adorno and Horkheimer conclude with "The triumph of advertising in the culture industry is that consumers feel compelled to buy and use products even though they see through them" (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1979: 24). These are similar to McLuhan's thoughts that. In 1976, he wrote an article in Advertising Age saying that "Advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century" and in Understanding Media he says that ads "push the principle of noise all the way to the plateau of persuasion. They are quite in accord with the procedures of brainwashing" (McLuhan, 2001 [1964]: 247).
Adorno could merely envisage the impact of television on mass culture back in 1944, as avertisement first began three years before. The first televised advert was in 1955 for toothpaste, but the uniformity that Adorno saw/foresaw in modern culture could have only been reinforced if he had foresawn the internet and additional globalization.
Adorno frequently alludes to classical (serious) music, due to his musicological roots and its lack of interchangeability and a sense of uniqueness pervades ("concrete totality"). He contrasts this with the formulaic modern approaches with stereotypical styles for hit songs/stars/soap operas, along with how a conditioned audience can conclude a modern song, film or novel from its opening. He describes the details as "interchangeable" (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1979: 3). Due to his left-wing stance, he attacks the capitalist society and its consumerism.
Does this mean that adorno foresaw Friday the 13th: Part X, the continual rmaking of classic movies which are no longer successful at the box office or on DVD or the durability of franchises such as James Bond? If you want my opinion on films, check out my other blog (I know this is self-publicity, but you know). He laments classic architecture, simply being a billboard for modern advertising (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1979: 22). He even alludes to parallels from Joseph Goebbels in keeping with his roots, context and ideology.
Television was anticipated to "intensify the impoverishment of aesthetic matter so drastically" through its increasingly multi-media nature that it would openly and derisively fulfil the Wagnerian dream of Gesamtkunstwerk (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1979: 3). Wagner, in his music-dramas, strove to encapsulatethe complete art form through music, literature and staging. This includes creating the perfect Festspielhaus.
It is hard to understand at first, which is why this requires multiple readings. For me, it just goes on forever and at first glance, seeing parts about Nazi Germany makes me think "I thought I was studying media, not history or psychology." Adorno and Horkheimer were members of the Frankfurt School, which was a group of individuals inspired by the ideological ideas of Karl Marx. Nobody came here for a lecture on communism.
P.S. If you don't understand why I've talked about A Clockwork Orange, that's OK. You're entitiled to your own opinion. This is mine.

Reference list

• Adorno, T.W. and Horkheimer, M. (1979) The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. London: Verso, pp. 120-124
• Long, P.; Wall, T.; Bakir,V. & McStay, A. (2009). Media Studies: Texts, Production and Context (London: Pearson Education)
• McLuhan, M. (1976) Advertising Age, September 3^rd 1976
• McLuhan, M. (2001 [1964]) Understanding Media. London: Routledge