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March 2, 2002
Damning (Yet Desiring) Mickey and the Big Mac
[Capitalism and Spread of Popular American Culture]
"'Why do they hate us?' One answer to that now familiar question may be its opposite: 'Why do they love us?' ... American popular culture is capitalist culture. In capitalism commodities are produced that will spur desire for still more commodities. Capitalism seduces through sheer force of marketing and sheer promise of pleasure. What fundamentalist society would not be horrified by the ways in which traditions and rituals are subsumed by the filthy lucre of the marketplace?"
"This view of popular culture has a long heritage. ... 'The Communist Manifesto' ... 'A Theory of Mass Culture:' ... mass culture was 'imposed from above,' that it created 'passive consumers.Like 19th-century capitalism, Mass Culture is a dynamic, revolutionary force, breaking down the old barriers of class, tradition, taste, and dissolving all cultural distinctions.' It is a kind of cultural indenture imposed by ... the 'Lords of kitsch.' ... Theodor Adorno also argued that mass culture was an instrument of oppressive power. ... a totalitarian dimension; television ... was 'a medium of undreamed-of psychological control.' ... Those ideas have now become unquestioned axioms ... pop culture succeeds because it is imperialist."
" ... Tocqueville ... argued ... that there was a fundamental difference between the artistic culture of an aristocracy and that of a democracy. In an aristocracy, members of the nobility form a small class with fixed interests, inspiring a uniform style among artisans and creators. Attention is paid to detailed craftsmanship, and artistry is a form of service. But in a democracy ... there are no restrictions of class or guild on either artisans or their public. Styles are less firmly defined; social arrangements are more fluid; human aspirations vary widely. So artisans offer ... 'imperfect satisfaction' for diverse audiences rather than perfection for the few. Tocqueville also accurately anticipated the nature of pop culture: democracy ... shifts the preoccupation of art from the soul to the body, from the ideal to the real. ... John Stuart Mill in 'On Liberty' ... heralded the growth of liberal culture. With equality and mobility ... citizens 'now read the same things, listen to the same things, go to the same places, have their hopes and fears directed to the same objects, have the same rights and liberties, and the same means of asserting them.' With this expansion of attention to the same things and places, commercial culture has also become more vital. ... Once relieved of concerns about caste and material need, the individual is free to address other issues."
"American popular culture offers a powerful promise. Luxuriant and prurient passions are partially satisfied; desires for autonomy are offered fulfillment; material pleasures and possibilities become palpable. Choices are freely made. Who can resist such a siren song? But there is a cost to this shedding of restrictions; there is something inherently disruptive about popular culture. It undermines the elite values of aristocratic art, displaces the customs of folk culture and opposes any limitation on art's audiences or subjects. It asserts egalitarian tastes, encourages dissent and does not shun desire. 'Mass Culture ... is very, very democratic: it absolutely refuses to discriminate against, or between, anything or anybody' ... 'all the verities involved by religion, authority, tradition, style, are thrown into question.' ... This is even more true now than it was a half-century ago. Popular culture has become the standard-bearer for modernity, heralding its transformations. But for fundamentalists and many terrorists, that is the very problem. ... Popular culture may be hailed by left-wing critics for its liberating energy, but it is also condemned by others as an opiate; among conservatives, it is feared for its nihilistic influence on tastes and morals. ... [more]
1:27:17 PM 
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