Commercial films function as advertisements for themselves, promising what they never deliver.

Evidence

One will have observed that it is difficult, initially, to distinguish the preview of a ‘coming attraction’ from the main film for which one is waiting. This may tell us something about the main attractions. Like the previews and like the pop hits, they are advertisements for themselves, bearing the commodity character like a mark of Cain on their foreheads. Every commercial film is actually only the preview of that which it promises and will never deliver. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 255

Categorization

• DEFINE: This is Adorno’s definition of the commodity character as applied to film — the work of art that announces itself as product; central to the culture industry analytic.
• XREF: Connects to ‘The Schema of Mass Culture’ where the preview/digest format collapses anticipation into consumption; also to the reader’s aim of testing this on trailers for prestige TV.