Beyond The "Culture Industry":Adorno’s Concept Of Film Media

As one of the most prosperous mass media in the 20 th century,film media not only opened the study of mass communication,but also became the core field of cultural industry theory."Cultural industry" is the most familiar theory of the Frankfurt school,and adorno,as the initiator of the theory of cultural industry,has attracted much attention.Adorno adopted an attitude totally different from that of the film critics at that time to examine the film: he did not stick to the content of the film itself,but constantly thought and questioned the power manipulation relationship behind the film,the interaction between the film and the audience and the society.Such a theoretical perspective transcends film content research and then transforms into media research.This paper holds that adorno’s research on film media has opened up the research path and paradigm of Frankfurt school’s media criticism.In dialectic of enlightenment,the film medium is the practical object of criticism of the cultural industry.In the text,adorno makes a fierce criticism of the film medium,calling the film "the song of the sirens" and "the howl of the fuhrer".Therefore,adorno’s concept of film media is undoubtedly negative,critical and negative.The above views are naturally correct and represent the long-held views of scholars on adorno’s film media.But throughout adorno’s academic career,the medium of film is not just a footnote to the theory of cultural industry.From adorno’s "argument" with Benjamin in the early years,to his research during the period of exile in the United States,to his return to Germany,adorno never stopped his research on film media,and his concept of film media is by no means a "cultural industry" in a word.Adorno’s film media concept contains the essence of his media concept and surpasses "cultural industry".This transcendence is not a simple negation of "cultural industry",but a dialectical media concept with affirmation in negation.In view of this,this paper attempts to carry out a systematic discussion and research on adorno’s concept of film media.Adorno is not simple to medium of film as a product of cultural industry,adorno film media concept is adorno academic career and a section of its theoretical system,as a medium of the masses of the film in the medium of the twentieth century has its own characteristics,and meanwhile adorno for film media also have their own original ideas and views: in the movie media has not yet been thriving,adorno through communication with Benjamin’s letter,inspired him to think about the film media used by the "copy" the positive and negative effects of technology;In the period of American exile,although he criticized the film media in dialectics of enlightenment,he did not deny the possibility of its positive influence.Adorno began to frequently discuss the possibility of the film’s positive influence in the music for film,which was co-written with eessler at the same time.After returning to Germany,adorno took the "new German film" movement as a reference,and carried out a more systematic thinking on how the film media became the "art of self-discipline".