AsToldByGinger, Post Horkheimer and Adorno

The past class readings from Horkheimer and Adorno addressed American culture in a way that shed the cold truths about the development and execution of the way in which we live. Although the authors wrote in 1944, they were able to see a trend that is even more prevalent today then the age in which they were writing in. They stated, “The whole world is passed through the filter of the culture industry. The familiar experience of the movie goer, who perceives the street outside as a continuation of the film he has just left, because the film seeks strictly to reproduce the world of everyday perception, has become the guideline of production” (56). The idea of seemless extension from fiction to reality relates back to Ziezek’s writings and his assertion that America got “what they wished for” when 9/11 happened, because the whole event seemed to come straight from the climax of the latest blockbuster film.

 The authors later on state, “However, just as the ruled have always taken the morality dispensed to them by the rulers more seriously than the rulers themselves, the defrauded masses today cling to the myth of success still more ardently than the successful” (59). I was asked to blog about this quote and explain the significance, and the more I think about it, the clearer the meaning becomes. I was originally having trouble with the use of the word “defrauded” because I took the definition as someone who was not “frauded,” or truthful, but now I understand it more to mean as a people that have been cheated. I therefore now believe that what the authors meant by this quote, is that the cheated masses will always cling to the myth of success (American dream), more so than the ones that have it, because the ones that are rich and successful and have obtained the American dream are the ones in power, and create the rules and regulations that keep themselves there, all the while keeping the common people below them. The successful have no worries because they are the ones who define success and create the regulations to obtain it.