Understanding "Culture Industry" of "Theodor Adorno" in the contemporary world
The amalgamation of "Culture Industry" in our everyday life.
Title:
Banarasi
Paan inside a mall
Fig
1:
An ordered and patterned arrangement inside a beetle shop in the Ambiance Mall represents the idea of a city called Banaaras. It uses
its name as a fetish for luring the customers. This setup inside a
mall shows the contemporality of the culture industry, and that it
has become far too complicated today. Here, this shop by trying to
bridge tradition with modernity is indicating that the city of
Banaaras is also known for Beetle, and that the cliché khaike
paan benaras waala is
not merely a cliché but also a representation of the importance of
beetles in the everyday life of the people of Benaras. This is how
the appealing effect created by the shop develops the feeling of the
essence of banarasi
paan inside
a mall in the national capital of India.
The
small paan
shops that
are mostly found in any locality all over India is here not even the
reference point for this fancy Paan shop. The accommodated area for
the shop inside the mall can give the visual impression of a small
restaurant. Does not this fairly larger space of the shop is to
detach it from the idea of a paan
shop outside
the mall. Even having a paan from the shop here can desublimate the
experience of the customers.
Title: Ganesha under the BMW advertisement
Fig
2:
Whole inside and outside environment of the Ambiance Mall had turned
itself into a ceremonial religious space reflecting the unholy nexus
of neoliberalism with the religion of the contemporary India. This
image of Lord Ganesha which was the center of attraction for many
visitors to mall was also carrying the hidden persuasive intentions
of the owner of the place. The location of the colorfully decorated
Ganesha was amidst the digital hoardings of advertisements for
several big companies. In the image it is very clearly visible that
above the statue of Ganesha, a gigantic size digital advertising
board is advertising the automobile manufacturer BMW from Germany,
thus reducing the symbol of Ganesha into an auspicious moment for
buying the commodities.
Ganesha
here is certainly not for the purpose of religious engagement. It was
the occasion of Diwali and the idol can create a feeling inside the
visitors that whatsoever they will buy will be an auspicious one for
them.
Title: Baul Singer surrounded by the mechanical/enchanted world
Just like the CokeStudio, The Wind of Change in Bangladesh exemplifies the manner in which the contemporary culture industry of our society is operating in the world of hyper-reality. And YouTube now appears to be a medium that reflects the transformation in culture industry. The Baul song in a sophisticated setting of the studio has an infusion of all sorts of musical instruments, cameras, lights and recording artists. The program Wind of Change is a connector of all these elements and creates the illustrative display of culture industry. The essence of these performances in an open space which is independent of the industrial and technological approach is appropriated once it becomes a part of the technologically/mechanically controlled sound and already choreographed space. The Baul songs that these artists are performing are now a commodity of consumption by the larger audience. The recording, sound quality, clarity of the video, the targeted audience and the website that will be the decider of a final cut of the recorded video….all these things reduce a simple yet profound event into a commodity element. It gives a completely different experience when one watches the video of a Baul song performance on a YouTube channel than in an open natural space without any intervention of the industrial tools. As a consequence the art of this Baul performer is not lived anymore – it is only performed
Title:
Cinema
in an atomized space
Fig
4:
The picture above shows the turning point of the entertainment
industry of our advanced industrial society. The image was clicked in
the DLF Promenade. It is an outer booking desk of the posh theater
which only shows the special Director’s cut and manifests the
transformation that has taken place in the realm of theater over the
period of time. It appears that the theater today has succumbed under
the conditions of the market. The theatrical space seems to transmit
a hierarchical consumption of visual art by making it exclusive only
for those with a distinct taste of art.
Title:
Rumi
on a book shelf
Fig
5:
This book store in Connaught place was very alluring to me and I suppose
that it was so because of the way the display case was arranged. In
the image a poetry section is shown with some of the widely read
books by some poets and writers of the world. We can see the poetry
section has a major frontal display of the book covers of the poetry
penned by Rumi. Yes, it is a well known fact that he is widely read
in advanced economies such as USA and other European countries,
However, for a developing economy such as India making a Sufi mystic
attractive makes him sellable as well. This is perhaps one of the
reasons why the books of Rumi contains such attractive covers. Most
of the visitors to the shop were heard talking about the cover design
of the books in the shelf. I could understand that why the publishing
houses are concerned about the outer appearances of the books. The
outer appearance of any book may be a big factor for many customers
to buy the book as an appealing object.
Credit: The images were clicked by my friends Sagar Dey, Jitendra Kulasthe, and Praveen Kodabagi. Apart from that they helped me with their critical insights.
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