The Great Man's Influence: Wallowing in Agreement?

[Carlton Fist]

Paul Nightingale wrote:

"To change track abruptly, I'm reminded of a tendency in many
progressive/Marxian critics of the mid-century. Walter Benjamin's "The Work 
of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" is marred by an elitist 
distrust of popular (ie mechanically reproduced) culture. The same is true 
of Adorno's work."

This is a bit of an oversimplification. The Frankfurt school distrusted low 
culture not because they were elitist snobs but because they were convinced 
(and rightfully so) that the totalitarian experiments of the first half of 
the 20th century were often created and sustained (at least partially) 
through low culture (recall, for instance, the millions of radios sold 
throughout Germany in the 30s with only one station on the dial, as well as 
the films produced under Goebbels' watch). It's also important to note that 
many members of the Frankfurt school were jews. They have plenty of reasons 
to attack anything that seems to be lending assistance to National 
Socialism--but this perhaps goes without saying. This is not to cast this 
whole argument in terms of low vs. high culture--I really don't think that 
framing our discussion in such a way is very useful, as I'm sure you'd 
agree. The Nazis listened to Mozart and Wagner, and Hitler expressed 
admiration for Schopenauer--this is all common knowledge. High culture, in 
short, helped foster totalitarianism and all these other -isms that have 
marked the 20th century. But I just wanted to point out that Adorno & co. 
weren't just a collection of elitist snobs; they had very good reasons to be 
wary of popular culture.

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