Adorno and Horkheimer's fundamental problem with the culture industry is that it exists. Their essay asserts that the culture industry as such, is a fascist democratization of individuality, ideologies, art, culture, and life. Both men are also deeply frustrated to the degree to which people fall prey to it, especially due to the transparency of how the culture industry operates and the consequences it propagates.
[...] Adorno and Horkheimer see the culture industry as the aim to reproduce life, paying particular attention to the mutation and destruction of beauty, laughter, and amusement/pleasure. It does more than just the thinking for us, but forms and reinforces the opinions we think are our own and leaves us to consume it in all its forms. The culture industry exists as a system wherein whole and the parts are alike; there is no antithesis and no connection.” (p. 126) It is an intriguing paradox of fragmented uniformity. [...]
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