Keepin Up With the Jones'

Good ol' Adorno and Horkheimer never fail to amuse me with their insights regarding "mass culture" and "mass taste". The notion that everyone is an individual and has their own personal style and taste is tempting, however, Adorno and Horkheimer do raise some interesting points on the matter. The claim that culture as an industry "perpetually cheats its consumers of what it perpetually promises" (139) has managed to make a fair bit of sense when considering a common "mass" ideal that has been etched into our brains through numerous discourses from the moment of birth. Take the "All-American Dream" that so many refute but ultimately conform to. Living this dream can be stereotypically summed up as having a nice house, car, dog and family (hopefully not in that order of importance), and "not to conform [to this ideal] means to be rendered powerless, economically and therefore spiritually-- to be 'self-employed'" (133). But how nice does that car have to be? Is it still living the dream if Rover isn't a pure-bred? The culture industry and the media might say, "your kids will be happier and in turn, your family will be more ideal if you had the newest mini-van with one (or two) DVD players." And thus, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, along with all their neighbours go on a family outing and pick out the newest mini-van together. After all, the Jones' down the street have one and they seem happier than ever. But alas, little Johnny Smith still gets beat up at school and and Mrs. Smith's cooking still sucks. Apparently, the easy steps to self (and family) betterment aren't so easy. I'm sure the Smiths feel cheated by the culture industry's empty promises. (Kind of like Mrs. Smith feels about the Mr.'s vows...)