Media power vs People power

Media power vs People power

One of the biggest debates of media culture can be pulled together in one question; does the mass media have a significant amount of power over its audience, or does the audience ultimately have more power than the media? Out of the many debates, there are two main people who argue each side, Theodor Adorno and John Fiske. Adorno believed that the power of the mass media was enormous over the power of the audience, however Fiske argued that people have power over the media, arguing that people choose what they like, and have the power to make things popular.

Theodor Adorno (September 11, 1903 – August 6, 1969) was a German sociologist, philosopher and musicologist. He went to Frankfurt school of social theory along with his friend Max Horkheimer, whom he later wrote a book with. Adorno fled from Frankfurt to New York and Los Angeles when the Nazis took power in the 1930’s. Adorno’s antipathy towards the mass media would have probably been increased by seeing that Hitler had been able to use to media for propaganda. Also another crucial point, was that Karl Marx predicted (in the middle of the nineteenth century) that workers were going to recognize their unfair treatment, and overthrow the rulers and factory owners. However, instead the workers of the world seemed happy, they had decent films to watch, and songs to listen to which made them happy, even if there work was not that rewarding.

John Fiske (born in 1939) is a media scholar, he concentrates on popular culture, mass culture and television studies. He has also wrote eight books, including ‘Power Plays’, ‘Power Works’ and ‘Understanding Popular Culture’. Fiske has the complete opposite opinion to Adorno, arguing that the audience has power.

Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer wrote a book called ‘Dialetic of Enlightenment’ (1947), this book referred to the mass media as the ‘culture industry’, this was to indicate its nature as a well-oiled machine producing entertainment products to make profit. All the products of the culture industry got called ‘exactly the same’, they argue that the products may seem different, but they are an illusion. This point can relate to ‘Axis of Awesome’; they are an Australian comedy act and they performed a song showing that most of the famous and popular songs that have been released all use the same 4 chords. This illustrates Adorno and Horkheimer’s point, showing that all the songs appear different, however they can be seen as the same. They believe that any person looking for entertainment has to have what the culture industry offers them, they can choose what they like, but only what is offered. They argue that because people have never had anything different, we want more of the same.

“The customer is not king, as the culture industry would have us believe, not its subject but its object” (Theodor Adorno)

However, John Fiske argues, “popular culture is made by the people, not produced by the culture industry”. He wants to show that people are individuals with their own taste, and they are not drones. Fiske disagrees with Adorno’s saying that we’ve been tricked into liking pop music, Fiske says that we like pop music because it is what is genuinely popular a that time. He backs up his argument saying that record and film companies make more flops than they do hits, proving that audience chose what they want and like, not what they are made to.

A case study on Madonna shows us the points of view from both Theodor Adorno and John Fiske. For Adorno, Madonna would illustrate his point that the culture industry can mass produce one product and then successfully be able to sell it to an audience of ‘passive’ consumers. However Fiske is the opposite, he would argue that Madonna has sold so many albums because she has an ability to connect with the audience and although her albums may be units sold to the record label, it is unique and the people that buy it want to buy it because they enjoy it, and have their own meaning towards it.

Another case study that Theodor Adorno and John Fiske could argue over is the X factor. The X factor is a singing talent competition, where the public vote for a winner who is then offered a contract in the music industry. Adorno could argue that all of the x factor winners in the past since the talent show begun have been exactly the same. This is because the songs and singers that are produced (in Adorno’s words ‘churned out’) are very similar using mostly only the four chord formula, that I previously referred to using Axis of Awesome’. However John Fiske, an extreme people power believer could disagree with with Adorno completely. He would argue that, yes maybe the singers and songs are similar, however the audience are the ones that choose them selves who they want to win, therefore meaning they have their own opinion and choose what they want to.

In conclusion, Adorno and Fiske both have very different arguments, this is probably why they are the most known theorists for the argument; is media power stronger than people power? I personally, can relate to ideas from both of them and I feel they both have very good points; therefore I couldn’t favor one of the theories more than the other. I feel that people do have their own opinions and choose what they want to hear, however I also feel that the media offers us a range of different genres, which they feel will be popular.