The character Mario has become one of the most recognisable symbols in global pop culture. He first appeared in a Nintendo game called “Donkey Kong” in 1981. Since then, Mario quickly evolved from a simple video game character into the centerpiece of a sprawling franchise. This corresponds to what Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer termed the culture industry.
- The term “culture industry’ was first introduced by Adorno and Horkheimer in “Dialectic of Enlightenment “to describe how popular culture, like films, radio programmes, and magazines, is produced similarly like a factory. The culture industry doesn’t emerge naturally from the masses. Instead, it is strategically designed to shape public consciousness through products that entertain and generate profit. They argued that this “factory” produces standardised cultural goods that manipulate mass society into a state of passivity and contentment, distracting people from real issues by offering easy pleasures. In Mario’s case, this commodification is seen through its vast franchise and its products, from the original Super Mario Bros. games to its expansion into films, merchandise, and more. Mario’s image is carefully crafted to appeal to a wide, global audience. To satisfy consumers with entertainment while neglecting deeper needs like freedom and creativity.
Nintendo has turned Mario into a cultural commodity, generating billions in revenue across multiple forms of media. Beyond the video games, Mario has expanded into a wide range of cultural products, from Super Nintendo World in Japan’s Universal Studios to the Super Mario movie, showing how the franchise has industrialised the character for various platforms. Mario has gone beyond its original platformer roots in gaming, branching into styles like Mario Party Superstars (a board-game style game) and spin-off games like Luigi’s Mansion, who is Mario’s brother. These similar cultural goods help keep the Mario brand profitable by consistently offering new but familiar content.
A key idea in the culture industry is homogenisation—the idea that cultural products become increasingly similar, offering the illusion of variety. In Mario’s world, whether you’re playing a traditional Mario platformer or something like Mario Kart, the experience often follows familiar patterns. Mario’s classic gameplay typically includes:
- Platform jumping.
- Collecting power-up items like mushrooms.
- Defeating villains to rescue characters.
Also, there’s always something hidden to discover, with secret areas and paths to explore. The design, characters, and gameplay are intentionally made consistent across the franchise to keep players comfortable and engaged. This makes consumers feel like they are making different choices, but they’re getting a similar experience each time. It’s like visiting a restaurant that changes the menu’s wording but serves almost the same dishes every time.
This constant stream of familiar Mario content shapes how we consume entertainment, making settling for predictable, escapist fun more accessible. It’s less about creativity and more about ensuring players stay hooked on what they already know and love.
Mario’s journey starts from a video game character to a multi-media empire illustrates how cultural products are shaped, controlled, and commercialised to generate profit while influencing consumer behaviour. Mario’s games, theme parks, movies, or merchandise, Mario represents how the culture industry standardises entertainment to keep audiences engaged while distracting them from deeper, more critical reflections on society. Mario’s success reflects how deeply the culture industry shapes our modern cultural experiences.
Reference
- Horkheimer, M. et al. (2020) Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
- Culture industry (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_industry (Accessed: 20 October 2024).
- Media Studies (2022) The Cultural Industries: Key Concepts, Media Studies. Available at: https://media-studies.com/cultural-industries/ (Accessed: 20 October 2024).
- Super mario (2024) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario (Accessed: 20 October 2024).
- How super mario became a global cultural icon (no date) The Economist. Available at: https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2016/12/24/how-super-mario-became-a-global-cultural-icon (Accessed: 20 October 2024).
