I have chosen the 'glossy-weekly' magazine industry as the basis of this critique, inspired by the ideas and 'thoughts' of the Frankfurt School scholars Adorno and Horkheimer.I feel that this is one strand of the media industry that demonstrates how mass-produced cultural products are standardized and leave little choice for the reader.
The nature of the women's magazine industry is centred around providing all the latest celebrity gossip, 'real-life' trash, latest fashion and offering reams of useless 'agony-aunt-style' relationship advice. The agenda of every single one of the 20+ weekly mags is to encourage women to buy them and buy into the celeb/lifestyle culture by thinking they have to keep up with the gossip and latest trends.
Adorno and Horkheimer's beliefs that mass-produced culture is standardized can clearly be applied to the 'weekly-mag' market. The shelves of magazines each week are filled with exactly the same stories - all claiming that their's is the exclusive. Take Katie Price - her latest marriage to Alex Reid was splashed over all the mags that week and it's the same for every other celeb drama. They're all talking about Cheryl Cole, Brad and Angelina, who's pregnant this week, who's split up, who's getting it on etc etc etc. If you covered up the name on every cover, you'd never tell which was which - they're all soooooooo similar.
The idea of pseudo individulisation - cultural products made to give the user the impression of choice, when really there is none - can also be applied to the magazine industry. Just count the number of weekly women's mags on the shelf - clearly there is plenty of choice. But is there really? If they're all talking about the same thing and thrusting the same 'must-buys' under your nose, then where's the choice?
The Frankfurt School shared concerns that the 'masses are oppressed through culture' and that cultural products are 'perpetuating false conciousness'. I think these thoughts can be applied to women's mags because the sheer volume of standardized magazines could quite realistically lead readers to accept that this is our culture - everyone's interested in celebs and lifestyle - and that's the way it is.
Benjamin's suggestion that individual reactions to mass products are pre-determined also rings true. We're lead to believe that we must keep up with the latest fashion and celeb gossip else we won't fit in with the rest of society. It's sad but its true - women's mags have their own agenda and ladies, we're falling for it!
Hmmmmm......point proven, I think.
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