Cliche free Valentines Day card.

I had created a valentines day card that had to have no cliches within it. The bright colours are used to show a retro style linking to the cassette tape. The tag line ‘Opposites a-track-t’ is a pun towards the cassette tape and it makes humour towards the word ‘attract’. The bright colours are also to make the card eye catching and draw attention. The image of the cassette tape is to show a way of reminding someone of their favourite songs and this could reflect that it could be a reminder of the time spent together. The cliches that I have avoided are:

1. Teddy bears as gifts or characters
2. Chocolates
3. Heart shapes
4. The colours; red, and pink for the association of love
5. Love/Rhyme messages
6. Flowers e.g. roses
7. Cupid, and bow and arrow

To justify the techniques used; I used the line tool to create the envelope, as it was a simple way of creating a graphic of an envelope. I also used the shape tool, especially the Rectangle to create the outline of the cassette tape and the label, as this was a simple yet effective way of creating a cassette tape graphic.

For a simple way of creating the bass clef note that is seen on the cassette, I used the pen tool so that I could draw it as accurately as possible.

My valentines day card avoids the cliches of the culture industry  as Adorno states “What parades as progress in the culture industry, as the incessantly new which it offers up, remains the disguise for an eternal sameness” (Adorno, 1992 p100). This means that new objects that represent older ones with only a few changes becomes a disguise for what is already the same object to show an excuse to the public to almost resell the same object. A way that I have avoided using cliches is that the card has no cliche images within it as well as on it. With there being no cliches, it is unique in that there is no card like this one which gives it its authenticity.

References 

Adorno, T and Horkheimer, M (1992) Dialectic of Enlightenment New York: Herder and Herder [Accessed 1 Jun. 2015]

Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror: 15 Million Merits (2011) is an analogy of the Culture Industry in contemporary society. Discuss.

Describe how the key themes of Adorno’s The Culture Industry relate to the themes within Charlie Brooker’s 15 Million Credits. Include at least 2 references from Adorno’s essay to support your argument.

With this essay, I will be explaining the key themes that are within Theodor Adorno’s The Culture Industry and how these themes then link with what is in Charlie Brooker’s 15 Million Merits.

What is learnt from Adorno’s The Culture Industry is pseudo individualisation which is where an object, situation, or a person behaves as if they are original but in reality they are not. An example of something that could claim to be unique would be TV programmes such as animal rescue. In the trailers, the voiceover would state the show would be different but when compared to previous animal rescue programmes, they are in reality very similar. Standardisation is another key theme that outlines that materials have been reduced to duplications. An everyday example of standardisation would be where record labels release a song and claim that it is original when it is actually like previously released. Commodification has been discovered as another theme from The Culture Industry and this would be where items would be changed so they become marketable and an everyday example of this could be a piece of glass that could be altered into a paperweight.

The final theme in ’15 Million Merits’ would be Authenticity and this would be items or materials that have a feeling of being distinctive and original. An example of authenticity in everyday could be upcycling objects making them a one off using the skills such as painting and sawing, and also decorating.

With 15 Million Merits, Pseudo individualisation is the most noticeable theme; this is that it is the theme that stands out the most. How this theme is used within the film is that the characters choose their food, but their choice seem individual but they have a limited choice on what is to choose from the vending machines. With the pornographic advert ‘Wraith Babes’, the advert may seem different each time to the viewers of the programme as well as the characters but the pseudo is that the adverts are actually the same. What the judges say to the contestants on the talent show ‘Hot Shot’ is that they would ‘show their talent to everyone’ and they claim to be an original talent but when the contestant is successful, they end up appearing upon the pornographic show ‘Wraith babes’ instead of following their dreams of being a singer or a dancer etc.

The work that the characters do within their world is shown as standardisation as they follow a routine daily. This would be such as being on the same allocated bike everyday earning merits and these merits would be used for food as well as drink, and repeated daily. How the merits are shown, as standardisation is that they are used for toothpaste, food and drink, and when they have 15 million of the merits, they are then able to enter the talent show. The clothes that are worn are the same everyday as well as for the characters, what they wear is casual grey sports clothes to possibly make it look to them as if they are part of a group. The show that some of the characters participate on, ‘Hot Shot’ is reduced to the same format as the popular talent shows; Britain’s Got Talent, and The X Factor. How the show ‘Hot Shot’, is the same format is that the judges would ask the contestant to introduce themselves and their act, after the act is attempted, the judges would then say the same phrase repeatedly to each contestant which is ‘we have never seen anything like this’. When the characters are in their rooms which appear to have virtual images such as a rooster for the alarm, as well as their personal avatars which are shown as the audience when they are watching Hot Shot, shows the same adverts repeatedly such as; for the talent show as well as the ‘Wraith Babes’ show. Whenever someone refuses to watch an advert, they are fined by their merits, as these are used as penalties by being deducted as a consequence. To summarise, as Adorno states ‘it refers to the standardisation of the thing itself’ (1947 p100), the Culture Industry essay shows its connection to the 15 Million Merits program as the merits are used constantly and are used in the same fashion daily and it shows they are standardised with their purpose.

Another theme would be commodification. What this would be is a combination of a commodity that is a marketable item and modification that is the meaning of transforming/changing something. So commodification is truly a commodity that is transformed into an item that helps generate profit. How this is shown in 15 Million Merits is that the main character enters the talent contest with a shard of glass. So that he can say a speech that he would be unable to without it, he places it to his neck as he spreads the truth about the contest. How this shard of glass becomes a commodification is that when he wins the contest, he ends up having his own live stream to other people. And this is available for the characters’ avatars so that they can buy a version of the shard that their avatar places to their neck. How this links to The Culture Industry is that Adorno quotes that ‘each product of the culture industry becomes its own advertisement’ (1947 p100) as it is that the main character’s shard has become a commodification as already mentioned as it was transformed as a prop for the live stream as well as an avatar accessory.

With most of the themes being about reducing people to a lower state or not being truthful, there is some goodness with and this is the theme of Authenticity. The authenticity with the Black Mirror is that when the main character’s friend creates an origami penguin, she is only allowed for the item to be kept for 24 hours and then it is discarded of, this that they are no allowed to be unique as they are to be forced to follow a routine day in and day out. What is also unique is that the same woman has a different voice when singing as well as the song that she had sung and the judges say this but they actually don’t follow with what they said.

To conclude, I would believe that the themes within Adorno’s The Culture Industry have a connection to the themes discovered Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror: 15 Million Merits.

References:

Adorno, T (1947) The Culture Industry Reconsidered, London: Routledge