Scribd
Upload
47 views2 pages

The TV Shows As An Example of Adorno's Theory of Capitalist Culture

The document discusses Adorno's theory of capitalist culture and how television shows exemplify this theory. Adorno argued that popular culture is produced by the "culture industry" for mass consumption and profit rather than enlightenment. TV shows today fit this description, as they are predictable with no artistic value, instead keeping people content and not seeking change. Modern shows promote triviality and false celebrities over real art and culture. They psychologically lead to short-term satisfaction but long-term frustration by not helping people develop, instead making them desire unnecessary goods and services. In this way, TV shows act as advertisers for mass cultural products and exemplify popular culture as an industrialized product for consumption rather than true art.

Uploaded by

Florin Gramada
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
47 views2 pages

The TV Shows As An Example of Adorno's Theory of Capitalist Culture

The document discusses Adorno's theory of capitalist culture and how television shows exemplify this theory. Adorno argued that popular culture is produced by the "culture industry" for mass consumption and profit rather than enlightenment. TV shows today fit this description, as they are predictable with no artistic value, instead keeping people content and not seeking change. Modern shows promote triviality and false celebrities over real art and culture. They psychologically lead to short-term satisfaction but long-term frustration by not helping people develop, instead making them desire unnecessary goods and services. In this way, TV shows act as advertisers for mass cultural products and exemplify popular culture as an industrialized product for consumption rather than true art.

Uploaded by

Florin Gramada
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Laura Popescu

The TV shows as an example of Adornos theory of capitalist culture

In his theory of capitalist culture Adorno described popular culture as a product of


culture industry. He considered that the products of this industry are produced for mass
consumption and their only purpose is to produce money and not to enlighten people. He
described this products as being predictable, without any artistic value and their only role is to
make the masses content with their situation and dont look for any change.
In my opinion the TV shows nowadays are a perfect exemplification for Adornos theory.
The middle class people spend a lot of time watching TV everyday especially popular TV shows
as Jay Lenos tonight show. In the last years the TV shows have become standardized in terms
of content, in almost every show we discover the same topics and characters. The middle class
people spend their free time watching news and gossips about American celebrities such as
Kim Kardashian (who even has her own reality show) instead of learning new things about real
art and culture. This TV shows dont offer an intellectual fulfilment, they dont have an aesthetic
role their only goal is to provoke false dreams of wealth and luxury to common people.
If real art has the role to provoke the people to think about the future and possibilities of
improvement this TV shows offer the people a preoccupation for the present moment and its
triviality. The real values of the culture are not promoted in this TV shows and as a result are
known and appreciated only by the elite of the society. The majority of the TV shows tend to
promote false celebrities characters with no cultural value which became famous only through
scandal and sensational stories as a result this characters become a model for the middle class
culture.
The psychological effects of this TV shows are multiple and varied, they offer a short
term satisfaction but on the long term they lead to frustration. Instead of helping people to
develop themselves the TV shows manage to make people become frustrated.
The economic effect are visible this TV shows dictates fashion nowadays and place the
consumer in a vicious circle. The constant exposure to wealth and luxury provokes frustration
and as a result the consumer spend his money on unnecessary goods and services. From this
point of view the TV shows work as an advertiser for mass cultural products (eg. Keeping up
with the Kardashians).
From my point of view the TV shows are a good example of popular culture as an
industrialized product. They are not art they are just a product ready to be consumed by the
consumer and produce more money for the producer.

You might also like