Background, Influences and Detournments
The situationist critique of the society of the spectacle shares many assumptions and arguments with the critique of the culture industry made by Adorno and Horkheimer in 1944. Some examples:
The culture industry perpetually cheats its consumers of what it perpetually promises. The promissory note which, with its plots and staging, it draws on pleasure is endlessly prolonged; the promise, which is actually all the spectacle consists of, is illusory: all it actually confirms is that the real point will never be reached, that the diner must be satisfied with the menu.
— Adorno and Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception
The relentless unity of the culture industry bears witness to the emergent unity of politics. Sharp distinctions like those between A and B films, or between short stories published in magazines in different price segments, do not so much reflect real differences as assist in the classification, organization, and identification of consumers. Something is provided for everyone so that no one can escape.
— Adorno and Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, pp.96-7
Even during their leisure time, consumers must orient themselves according to the unity of production.
— Adorno and Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, p.98
Read more about this topic: The Society Of The Spectacle
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“Nothing changes more constantly than the past; for the past that influences our lives does not consist of what actually happened, but of what men believe happened.”
—Gerald W. Johnson (18901980)