Mass culture rewards performers whose compliance is so complete they simulate resistance
Evidence
The jazz musician and everyone in front of the microphone or the camera are forced to inflict violence upon themselves. Indeed the most rewarded are those who do not even require this violence to be exercised upon them in the first place, those who are so utterly compliant with the expected behaviour that they can even simulate the signs of resistance spontaneously precisely because they no longer feel such resistance in themselves. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 132
Categorization
- XREF: Precursor of the modern ‘brand authenticity’ critique — performers simulating spontaneity they no longer possess; relates to the standing directive’s ‘Small acts of decorum toward corpses matter more than practical logic’ theme of performed authenticity. — connects to: Against a system demanding meaning-production, the masses’ passive conformity is the superior resistance. — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 291