Theme 2: Critical media studies

What is Enlightenment?

Enlightenment is when what we believe in is not base on fear or myths but on knowledge. Adorno And Horkheimer write “Enlightenment, understood in the widest sense as the advance of thought, has always aimed at liberating human beings from fear and installing them as masters”. By being able to understand and explain thing that happens, people can conquer their fear and superstition. Adorno and Horkheimer also writes “For enlightenment, anything which does not conform to the standard of calculability and utility must be viewed with superstition”. Hence, it is important that, for example, statements are based on knowledge, not believes.

What is the meaning and function of “myth” in Adorno and Horkheimer’s argument?

As it is possible to read in Adorno and Horkheimer’s text, they state that false clarity is another name for myth. The function of the myth was to try to explain, record and narrate the things that happened.

What are the “old” and “new” media that are discussed in the Dialectic of Enlightenment?

When reading the text, I found it that Adorno and Horkheimer did not talk a lot about the object of media, like magazines, tv or radio, and named them old or new media even thou they mentioned some quickly, like radio, cinema and magazines. But what they rather discussed what was and is produced and how this has changed. They write “Cartoon and stunt films were once exponents of fantasy against rationalism.”. Today they mean that for example, the movies have no deeper level and there are no requirements that the consumer of media needs to think. The “new” media is mass-produced to suite the big group of consumers.  

What is meant by “culture industry”?

With culture industry, Adorno and Horkheimer try to describe the way that the culture is today. They mean that all the medias and the culture is more or less the same. It is produced in a standardized form. They mean that with this standardized form, the bigger part of society is manipulated into passivity.

What is the relationship between mass media and “mass deception”, according to Adorno and Horkheimer?
I felt that Adorno and Horkheimer in the text had a very negative attitude against mass media. According to me, they mean the media that is produced today in some ways make the people stupid and we, as consumers, are tricked to believe that we want, for example, to watch certain programs. They write, “Today, that belief has itself been intellectualized, becoming so refined as to lose sight of all actual goals and to consist only in a golden shimmer projected beyond the real.”

Please identify one or two concepts/terms that you find particularly interesting. Motivate your choice.
I find the concept culture industry and mass media interesting. For me, the terms are a bit complex and to really understand them, I think that I would need to spend more time reading about them. But I found it interesting that Adorno and Horkheimer are so critical and negative to the media that is produced today. I can agree that some programs on the TV is more that bad and I do not find any point in watching them but at the same time I do get a feeling that Adorno and Horkheimer are just two old men, sitting behind their desk saying “it was better when I were young” instead of finding the good things that actually is produced.