Critical Media Studies - Conclusions

While reading Adorno and Horkheimer's essay I found in it a strong correlation with the Marxist dialectic expressed in the two concepts of "base" and "superstructure" that we finally proposed ad discussed during the seminar.
Marx defines as base all the features, roles and forces in the production process, such as relations employer-employee, work organizations and owning regulations, and as superstructure he lists the culture and art, the roles and hierarchies, the state and institutions, the rituals and religion of a society.
In his dialectical materialism Marx states that the superstructure is directly inferred from the base, according to this we need to analyze the procedural dynamics of the production process to utterly understand the superstructure, for they interact each other yet the dialectic between them is not completely of the type cause-effect thus the base prevails.
In this sense the point of their discourse find synthesis in the quote "Du bist was du isst", literally "you are what you eat" framed by L. Feuerbach -and mostly known for the song "Mein Teil" by the german band Rammstein- expressing the fact we are mind-shaped from the content we consume.

Furthermore I got involved in the dissertation about art, I do not fully agree with what A&H state about art in the mass production society even if from this reading arose many interesting reflections.
The authors' critique moves against the new media industry of the time, mainly addressed to Hollywood movies and recorded music, which prevents the spectator from a intimate contemplation of the work of art and whose products are not consumed "hic and nunc", literally "here and now", unlike what uses to happen in the theatre or in the concert hall where art is created around the audience, but imposing globally and forcedly the modalities and formalities of consumption.
Personally I find true the judgement against the mass media production but with some reserve on the distinction of what art is or is not in our society.
I believe, or at least I hope, undeniable stating there is some kind of art in the present -and probably in the future- media, but at the same time what I constantly notice is a gradual shift in defining what is conventionally beautiful towards simpler and more shallow aspects.*

This reflections lead me to feel that probably we urge to reflect on this dynamics the media use to set off, in order to preserve our integrity and awareness, the media want us to hear and not listen, to watch and not observe and eventually to talk and not express.
I must admit I always welcomed the speed, variety and amount of the sources of knowledge the technology supplies us because I would probably have not grown the person I am today without, thus at the same time I believe the countless number of inputs we have today risks to turn us just into weak minded targets for the impossibility to reflect on the content we unconditionally consume.



*These are some concepts we quickly discussed during the seminar but which I am really interested in, let me explain better.
I notice we are missing the feeling of what Kant defines as sublime hence the feeling of resigned astonishment when observing what is meant to be art or culture to the advantage of the shallow and linear beauty the mass media propose us.
It is for instance the contrast of feelings we can feel when listening to the "Prelude to Tristan und Isolde" of R. Wagner, my favourite classical piece for its elusive and ethereal shape which need to be contemplated, and the last top-chart "Wake me Up" by Avicii, that I find a sincerely catchy and compelling sing-along.