...Myths That Blind Us; Reflection

Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us by Linda Christensen

“A Prison for Your Mind”

Reflection:  I first want to say, THIS IS MY LIFE! I am so struggling with accepting these theories and deciphering them for myself because I have been exposed to so many different ideas. I know I’ve repeatedly said I took critical theory, but this article is all sorts of critical theory. The author specifically focuses on mass media that affects children but many things in life are deceptive. After taking that class you are forced to see things that shape society and you as an “individual,” when in reality, you’re not really an individual at all. It’s really not easy explaining or understanding theory, I was literally in my professor office every week asking him all kinds of questions but like I said, once you get it, you are exposed to a whole new world and that glass is cracked. All in all though, you determine what you want you want to see, if you want to remain ignorant or accept awareness of these things. 

WATCH, WATCH WATCH THIS!!!!

Two theorists Max Horkheimer and Theodore Adorno or as my professor used to say, “The Grumpy Germans” (because their theories are very pessimistic.) wrote The Culture Industry as Mass Deception. They examine U.S. pop-culture and conclude that pop-culture serve the interests of the Bourgeois, the people and corporations in power. (The government, media, advertisers, news, and television and music)All these powerful institutions/people are manipulating the consumers (us) of our culture to ultimately gain capital which then turns into power, it’s a cycle. In easier to understand to terms, I wrote this theory out like this; $ is everything. With that said, the government and big corporations make it almost entirely impossible to for society to live without certain things, for example, technology. But this isn’t always apparent to us; it lies in our consciousness as normal so we don’t recognize that we all have internet or a computer, or all want the latest iphone, why we need it isn’t a question we ask ourselves because we’ve been conditioned by society and by its standards to just accept it.  Just like Christensen points out about the “secret education” about self image in children’s cartoons.

In taking this one step further, Christensen points out that beauty is everything, it’s how you get a man ,and live happily ever after but if you aren’t ,as the ugly step sisters,  you won’t amount to much of anything. So a child grows up with this “secret education” and subconsciously strives for beauty her whole life. Who benefits from that…the makeup industry, the dieting franchises and the cosmetic medicine corporations? Politcal Economy. It ultimately comes down to money and power that keeps this cycle of deception going. “The might of industrial society is lodged in many minds, man is mocked when buying into this culture” –Horkheimer and Adorno

An actor portrayal of George Orwell on his final message, author of dystopian novel, 1984 suggesting a change about any form of deception. (real quotes)

Question: So after reading this article, I was made more aware of childhood media as deception that constructs our beings. And in evaluating how the fairy tales I grew up watching affected me, I realized as was mentioned in the article, I will NEVER leave my house without makeup and If you ask me why, I’ll say I need it. Does anyone else have an eye-opening or reflective experience when reading this?