Task 2 - On popular music

Adorno believes that popular music for the masses is 'a perpetual busman's holiday' (Adorno, T.,1941, On popular music,p81). He believes that a 'concerntrted and conscious' (p80) experience of art is only possible to those who are not exploited by the working class system. According to Adorno these workers need relief from their boredom and tiredness and 'cheap commercial entertainment' (p76) is one of a few things that fills this void. 
 This 'boredom of mechanical labour' (p74) is manifested in pre-sructured beats which reflect the mechanical rhythm of industry. Adorno believes this 'standardization' (p73) is audibly present in the thrity-two bar chorus and limited range. The 'rigidity of whose pattern is understood' (p.73) in a way that the listener automatically connects to it. In many ways the 'composition hears for the listerner' (p77) in the way that the music is written and promoted with the advantage of being able to predict the response of the masses. 
 The irony in this 'pre-digested' (p77) listeing experience is that enjoying it leaves the consumer with a feeling of individuality. The 'halo of free choice or open market' (p79) promotes pseudo-individuality, allowing the listener to feel as though they are defining themselves through associating themselves with a particular music, when in actual fact each individual listerner is lead to the same standard experience. The listener can only engage with what they are given. 
 The band 'Hard-fi' illustrates Adorno's steotype perfectly. They appeal to an extensive target audience for mupliple reasons. They represent the ulimate working class dream of escape to fame and fortune in their very existance. There music is heavilly reliant on a mechanical rhythmic beat, a simple five note structure and repetition of a chorus. In addition to this, the actual theme of the song is the five day week and the concept of 'living for the weekend'. Adorno mentions that this music creates a 'distraction' (p80); installing a sense of 'fear and anxiety about unemployment and loss of income' (p80). This is a subject matter within popular music 'whose pattern is understood' (p73) by the masses. 

SEMINAR NOTES: Critical positions on the media and popular culture

COMMUNICATION THEORY

THE GAZE

SEMINAR NOTES: Panopticism

Task 1 - Panopticism in contemporary society

Elements of the way in which smoking is controlled and regulated could be compared to Panopticism in the context of contemporary society. This is illustrated in the way that we behave in response to signage and other visual reminders prompting us not to smoke and messages reinstating the consequences of our actions should we be caught committing them. This is the perfect example of ‘automatic functioning of power’ (Foucault, 1977). We do not necessarily need to see anyone on site policing the situation but most of us consider the risk and feel fearful of being caught so refrain from smoking accordingly. In this sense we are self-regulating.

There are multiple day-to-day surveillance measures and strategies such as closed circuit television and open plan civic engineering installed in our society to protect us. However at the same time this ‘visibility is a trap’(Foucault, 1977). The constant surveillance installs enough fear and awareness to control our behavior.

Another way that smokers are regulated is by our peers. Constant government led campaigns reinforce the message that smoking is an extremely negative life choice. The government implements pathos to pull at the heartstrings of the masses, when realistically the government wants to promote the docile body because it is far more beneficial to their ideal society. As a result, non-smokers regulate the smokers by the judgment they bestow on them, enforcing a feeling of shame.

The health service is required to ask us as a process of administration the question; Are you a smoker? This is but one of many situations throughout your life where you are required to answer this question. Even when you have quit, you will be registered as an ‘ex-smoker’. This ‘permanent registration’(Foucault, 1977) and negative attention enforced by the government install a sense of guilt in the smoker, again making them self-regulate and feel pressured into quitting. Effectively, being a smoker becomes a sub category of being human

Another example of this ‘binary division and branding’(Foucault, 1977) is the ban on smoking in public spaces. The ban requires smokers to smoke in areas specifically for them. This creates a literal separation between those who smoke and those who do not. A more extreme version of this can be seen in the concept of smoking booths; while slightly alien to the United Kingdom are very well established in Europe and other areas of the world. In these booths the smoker is confined to a small enclosure perhaps only large enough for one person, often glass so that they can actually see other smokers and passers by, but cannot communicate with them, eliminating any social pleasure in the experience. In this situation the smoker can simply have their cigarette with only the hum of the extractor fan to keep them company. This feeling of ‘enclosure, rejection’ (Foucault, 1977) and loneliness reflects that of a leper.

Bibliography

Book:

Michel Foucault, (1977) Discipline and Punish, London, Penguin

Example of smoking booths in Hamburg, Gemany.

'Smoking booth' installation by artist Norma Jean in 2008 in response to the smoking ban. Frighteningly Orwellian and ironic considering what is now the reality.

      

Amusing article discussing article about new design for smoking booths.

CRITICAL POSITIONS ON THE MEDIA AND POPULAR CULTURE