The mass-culture hero’s success reveals conformity, not freedom

Evidence

The hero no longer makes any sacrifices but now enjoys success. He does not come of age and assume freedom through his deeds for his career is simply the revelation of his conformity. Thus he is the intriguer who has ‘arrived’, whose confiscated appearance reveals itself with all its irresistability in the form of Clark Gable. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 120

Categorization

• XREF: Directly supplies the pseudo-individuation engine: the hero’s ‘success’ is difference-as-product-feature, which the reader wants to test on later stars.
• SEED: The Gable template — hero whose career is revelation of conformity — is a ready-made grid to run over post-Adorno action stars from Stallone to superhero leads.