Week 3: The Frankfurt School

This week in Media Culture, we looked at The Frankfurt School: a ‘school of thought’, comprising of individuals connected to the Frankfurt University.

The main theorists we looked at were: Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer and Jurgen Habermas.

My task for this week is to construct a Frankfurt School critique of a culture industry.

The industry I’ve chosen is that of online celebrity gossip such as: Perez Hilton, Mr Paparazzi and TMZ.

This industry would be a concern to the Frankfurt School as it epitomises all of
their shared concerns for society and culture:

• Mass Production - most of the stories featured are reproduced; mainly as they're all from the same sources and the sites tend to copy off one another. As Horkheimer would say it has 'the same stamp on everything'.
• Culture Industry - this form of 'culture' is very negative to the Frankfurt School.
• Mass Oppression - the position of those featured in these websites is a frequent reminder of our positions in the superstructure and how they will not change. The mass production of the stories also supports this and highlights this fact even more. To readers the view is that only the elite are allowed to appear on these websites.

Online celebrity gossip websites do not contain the social needs which Habermas states are importnat to a cultural society. These are aesthetic, theraputic and explicative discourses: that focus upon the importance of the curator and critic; self knowledge and the use of language. The language used in the gossip websites is very informal; with many posts simply being a question and a large image or video. Not that cultrual if you ask me.

These online gossip websites are extremely standardised in their relationship to the industry; as they form the basis for many celebrity magazines and all place high importance on embaressing images of celebrities and scandals. The style of the websites is that of a tabloid newspaper.

Pseudo Individualization is also apparent in these celebrity gossip websites; as they all attempt to be individual; whilst they try to make there readers forget that what they are reading they have read before. Perez Hilton does this by grafitting the images on his website; TMZ create their own videos and Mr Paparazzi man uses his own 'Paps'. However, this still does not take away from the fact that what we are reading is regurgitated.

The Leavis' and The Canon - my interpretation

This week in Media Culture; we studied F.R and Queenie Leavis; looking in some detail at The Canon.

The Canon was created to contain a list of 'authoritative' examples of work and authors; which contained Universal Values which were shared and upheld in society.

In class we came up with lists and films and bands which we thought the Leavis' would choose to be in The Canon; which made me realise how difficult it is to choose a 'sweetness and light' text and to put your own opinion to the back of your mind.

So, my task for this week was to attempt to write a Leavis style analysis of a media text; similar to what would have been seen in 'Scrutiny'.

The media text I am going to scrutinize is.............'The Sun' newspaper.

The Sun newspaper is a disgrace to modern journalism. All it is concerned about is Sex, Celebrity and Sport. Politics is rarely featured (unless a politician is involved in a sex scandal) and finding a business story is like finding a needle in a haystack.

The average reader of 'The Sun' is part of the Populace, who likes nothing more than to shout, swear and drink: therefore it's not surprising that this newspaper is known for it's Page 3 girls and has a reading level of an 11 year old.

The style of 'The Sun' is all about the images and not about the text; the only text they place importance on is the headlines; as they try and fail to make them as witty as possible.

All in all, this newspaper is a disgrace and has no cultural importance to it. Culture to 'The Sun' is a high class Porno!

Matthew Arnold (Culture and Anarchy) claims that culture, ‘has one great passion, the passion for sweetness and light’ and ‘the passion for making them prevail’. Culture is ‘the best that is though or said’. When this is achieved the whole of society is in the fullest measure of real thought, real beauty, real sweetness and real light. Speaking of classes Arnold says culture:

‘seeks to do away with classes; to make the best that has been thought
and known in the world current everywhere; to make all men live in an atmosphere of sweetness and light, where they may use ideas, as it uses them itself, freely – nourished and not bound by them’.

Based on Arnold’s distinctions; I’ve found it really hard to try and find a media text I thought epitomised ‘sweetness and light’ as everyone’s idea of what contains ‘sweetness and light’ differs not only based on their culture but based on personal opinion.

After much deliberation; I believe that Slumdog Millionaire is a media text that contains, ‘sweetness and light’. My reasons for this: the film shows that anything is possible if you put your mind to it; it doesn’t focus upon class – it may focus upon a young boy’s struggle, but the ending is a traditional happy ending. Another way in which the film contains ‘sweetness and light’ is because it allows for insight (for me) into another’s culture and it made me appreciate the things I have in my life more.

The film shows real thought in it’s scripting and the way every answer to the ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ leads to a story. Real beauty is seen through the backdrop of the film, but mainly through the love story and how Jamel will do anything to find Latika. Finally real sweetness and light are seen in the feel-good feeling or atmosphere the film ends with, making it the best that is thought or said.

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

I wouldn't say that the 'Gypsy/Traveller's' culture was a part of my culture but i really fancied watching 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding' on Channel 4 this week just to gain a bit of an insight. By the looks of things i wasn't the only one as 4.5million people watched the programme.

I have to say my eyes have been well and truly opened to aspects of the Gypsy/Traveller's culture and to be completely honest, i think we could all take notes form them: the children don't drink, smoke or do drugs and they do not have sex before marriage. These rules are actually stuck to, which really surprises me.

There may be aspects of their culture that i find wierd such as the young ages at which they marry, but it seems to work for them and as divorce is not accepted in their culture; the couples have to work at their marriages and aren't able to take the easy way other through divorce; like people who i'd associate with my culture do.

The only thing i can't quite put my finger on and fully except is the style of clothing the young girls wore and the reason's behind it. I know certain meet-ups were used for the girls to find suitors; but i suppose that not to dress in very little is something so heavily embedded in my family culture; that i will find it hard to accept.

However, i do feel like i'm starting to realise what culture is and how accepting other cultures and embracing aspects of other people's cultures may improve my own.

Culture according to F.R.Leavis and Raymond Williams

Raymond Williams describes culture as ‘one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language’. I have to admit it agree. I asked my mum and my boyfriend what they thought culture meant; to which my mum replied, ‘I suppose culture is described by what you believe in and the things/hobbies you do’ and my boyfriend replied, ‘I’d say it’s something people want to have. You associate culture with rich people; art, books, theatre’. This led to a great discussion about the classes and turned into a bit of a Marxism rant!

However, Richard Williams does give a good description of culture in Keywords by splitting it into three categories: ‘Ideal’ which is ‘the best that is thought or said’; ‘Documentary’ which responds to ‘how we live or have lived’ and ‘Social’ which is described as ‘the stuff that surrounds us’. Knowing this description helped me to better understand the F.R.Leavis reading, ‘Mass Civilisation and Minority Culture’.

One of the clear messages I got from this reading was similar to that of Matthew Arnold’s ‘Culture and Anarchy’: class is everything and class is minority keeping. Whether culture is trying to do away with classes to create an atmosphere of sweetness or light or whether by splitting the population into Barbarians, Philistines and Populace, culture is really highlighting the class differences: a person’s class is important to a person’s culture.

So to F.R.Leavis himself; who seems to look in detail at language and culture through literature. Firstly Leavis states that he believes culture to be in a crisis. I got the impression he blames Americanisation for this. Leavis looks at how Americanisation has impacted on films; taking a very negative look in my eyes; suggesting that Americanisation has led to the dumbing-down of films and literature and therefore the lowering on culture.

Leavis states how because the variety and number of types of literature has increased since Wordsworth’s time; meaning one has to be especially gifted or favoured, before he begins to discriminate. I understood this to mean that nowadays in order to discriminate against another’s culture; you yourself must be of a high class or of a high culture. This maybe harder to achieve nowadays if high culture is becoming harder to find or attain.

‘High-Brow’ is also touched upon by Leavis and I have to admit this term confuses me as I always though high culture and high-brow were more or less the same thing. In the reading high-brow is said to cut off the minority from the powers of the world as never before: once again the idea of class is being thrown back into the works.

The conclusion is simply, that culture is in trouble. Mass culture will not save the culture we are losing. Modern life and Americanisation seem to be the reasons for the loss of culture. Add the importance of class into this and the ever widening boundaries between classes and culture really is in trouble.

First Film Review of the Blog - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

The cinema was packed when i went to see this film and rightly so; it was brilliant! I wasn't really expecting a lot from the film, so i was surprised at how good it was! I enjoyed everything about the film: the storyline, the actors, the special effects, it was all just spot on.


Brief synopsis: Percy Jackson is a normal schoolboy; little does he know he's the son of the Greek God Poseidon - making him a Demi-God. The trouble all begins when Percy is accused of stealing Zeus's lightning bolt so he's shipped off to Camp Half Blood, where he learns to fight and enhance powers he earnt from his father, like healing in the water. Percy and his friends Grover (a satyr) and Annabeth (another demi-god) set out on a quest to prove Percy's innocence by visiting Hades, but its not that simple they must find three pearls to be able to leave Hades's lair. Throw in beasts, Medusa and the Lotus Casino and it's one hell of a quest!

Who's in the film: Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Uma Therman, Steve Coogan, Logan Lerman, Kevin McKidd and Catherine Keener.

In a strange way, Percy Jackson was quite an education film; Greek Gods who are not so well known were featured plus characters such as fates, centaurs and hell hounds. I liked the idea of the Gods pyshically being on Earth in human form before returning to Olympus and i thought the size of the Gods when on Olympus was also quite a clever idea.

The only bad points of the film were the predictability of Hades's wife and the amount of time the big names were actually in the film for.

Great film to take the kids to or a great form of escapism for those of us who need it !

A Media Text that I believe describes 'My Culture'

I have to admit, i found it quite hard to think of one media text which sums up 'my culture'; as i'm not part of an outside of University club, i don't part-take in any Sports teams: my life kind of revolves around University, Work, the Cinema and Restaurants. But i think my favourite film may just do the trick........

....... I have chosen 'Confessions of a Shop-o-holic' as the media text which sums up 'my culture'.

This media text appeals to me and can be seen as part of 'my culture' as i felt i could relate to many aspects of the main character 'Rebecca's' personality and life.

Rebecca is a young female redhead: as am i and we are both Journalists. In the film Rebecca treats her current job as a stepping stone to the job which she really wants. In the same way i think of uni as a stepping stone to starting my career as a Broadcast Journalist.

Family and career are of high importance to 'Rebecca'; as they are to me and 'Rebecca' has high aspirations to climb the social and professional ladder; so she can afford all the things she craves; I also have aspirtaions to climb the social and professional ladder.

All my friends and family know me as a fan of shopping and i have been labelled as a shop-o-holic many times. In a strange way i feel that shopping is part of my culture as i grew up going shopping frequently with my Mum and still do today.

Finally, the fact that 'Confessions of a Shop-o-holic' is a film can be seen as part of my culture as i go to the cinema with my boyfirend every week; sometimes more than once a week! Watching films is something i really enjoy; mainly for the idea of escapism.

So... i see the film version of 'Confessions of a Shop-o-holic' as a part of 'my culture'; because i believe aspects of my life and myself can be mirrored with the characters and storylines in the film.