By Rihaan Munir,
‘What if the world you perceive is a carefully crafted illusion designed to keep you compliant and controlled? This is the unsettling premise of The Matrix, a remarkable film that is a powerful commentary on the culture.’
As two German philosophers, sociologists Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer were highly influenced by Marx and other theorists like Lukacs. Max and Theodor published The Dialectic of Enlightenment, which analyses Western culture and philosophy. Both philosophers believe that the culture industry produces standardized and mass-produced cultural goods that reinforce dominant ideologies and suppress dissent.
Adorno and Horkheimer argue that the culture industry produces mass-produce cultural goods that are standardized and homogenized, leading to a loss of individuality and critical thinking as it’s a tool of domination and control; it manipulates and controls people’s thoughts and desires by disseminating mass media and advertising; it often reinforces dominant ideologies through stereotypes, presenting them as natural and inevitable. Stereotypes are frequently commodified and exploited for profit in the cultural industry, contributing to their perpetuation.
An example would be The Matrix (1999), a classic of the cultural industry, a term coined by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer to describe the mass production of cultural goods, often aimed at profit and conformity. The movie presents a world where humans are trapped in a simulated reality created by machines. This can be seen as a metaphor for how the culture industry can manipulate and control our perceptions of reality through media and advertising. It also suggests that the machines have created a shared reality that is essentially a mass-produced cultural product. This echoes how the culture industry often produces standardized and homogenized cultural goods.
The philosophers claim that the culture industry is driven by their concern about how mass media and culture can be used to manipulate and control individuals. They argue that the culture industry, under capitalism, produces standardised and homogenised cultural goods designed to reinforce dominant ideologies and suppress critical thinking. The Matrix (1999) provides a striking visual representation of Adorno and Horkiheimer’s concerns. The film depicts a world in which humans are trapped in a simulated reality created by machines, who use this reality to control and exploit them. It suggests that we may be living in a world that is not entirely real but rather a carefully constructed illusion designed to serve the interests of powerful forces. This simulated reality is a mass-produced cultural product designed to distract and pacify the human population. However, this can also highlight the potential for mass media to be used as a tool of control and propaganda. Using control and exploitation, it can indicate that the culture industry can commodity and exploit human experiences for profit, leading to a loss of authenticity and meaning. The simulated reality in the Matrix
Overall, the Culture industry can manipulate and control consumers,
Sources:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/westminster/reader.action?docID=5406369
https://tgtrs.wordpress.com/2021/11/05/the-matrix-1999/
https://johnkennethmuir.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/cult-movie-review-the-matrix-1999/
https://sk.sagepub.com/books/media-and-communication/n2.xml
https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/the-matrix-simulation
