Popularized classics lose the estrangement that constituted their truth.

Evidence

True, but coming to life as classics, they come to life as other than themselves; they are deprived of their antagonistic force, of the estrangement which was the very dimension of their truth. The intent and function of these works have thus fundamentally changed. If they once stood in contradiction to the status quo, this contradiction is now flattened out. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 301

Categorization

• XREF: Direct counter to the democratization-of-culture defense; connects to the reader’s note that consumption functions as control. — connects to: Mass reproduction’s erosion of the aura destroys experience rooted in tradition. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 629; Traditional literary histories reduce texts to examples and force crude causalities upon them; The modernist classics became reified monuments that paralyzed fresh form production. — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 691 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• The modernist classics became reified monuments that paralyzed fresh form production. #exemplifies (0.85) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 691
• Eroded ‘master concepts’ lose their explanatory reach over social phenomena. #exemplifies (0.80)
• Traditional literary histories reduce texts to examples and force crude causalities upon them #complicates (0.75)