Afternoon my fellow Cushion crew, hope all is well

The paragraph I chose to translate was:

"The whole world is made to pass through the filter of the culture industry. The old experience of the movie-goer, who sees the world outside as an extension of the film he has just left (because the latter is intent upon reproducing the world of everyday perceptions), is now the producer’s guideline. The more intensely and flawlessly his techniques duplicate empirical objects, the easier it is today for the illusion to prevail that the outside world is the straightforward continuation of that presented on the screen. This purpose has been furthered by mechanical reproduction since the lightning takeover by the sound of film."

As you all know, I am rather fond of bright colours and the odd fabulous photo. I therefore chose to interpret my paragraph in a the the style of a mood-board.

-Leanne

Hello, Jenna here!
For this week's portfolio task, I chose to translate paragraph 2:

"Under monopoly all mass culture is identical, and the lines of its artificial framework begin to show through. The people at the top are no longer so interested in concealing monopoly: as its violence becomes more open, so its power grows. Movies and radio need no longer pretend to be art. The truth that they are just business is made into an ideology in order to justify the rubbish they deliberately produce. They call themselves industries; and when their directors’ incomes are published, any doubt about the social utility of the finished products is removed."

I intitally set out with the plan of turning it into a quirky little limerick but soon stumbled across the problem of a lack of syllables within which to get my point across! So my creation is still somewhat in the limerick format, with a few variations to the rules. Here we go...

Within monopoly all culture is the same,
It's the people at the top we all need to blame.
As violence is exposed
So the power grows
And profit is the name of the game.

Poignant and beautiful, I think you'll agree! Haha
Over and out

Prepare yourselves for an emotion-filled poem...

Ahoy there Cushioners!
I, like many others, decided to take a stab at being a poet for the day, pretty much reminding me how I am not aspiring to be the next Dylan Thomas. However, I have somewhat succeeded in rhyming, moreso not, though.

ORIGINAL
"The sociological theory that the loss of the support of objectively established religion, the dissolution of the last remnants of pre-capitalism, together with technological and social differentiation or specialisation, have led to cultural chaos is disproved every day; for culture now impresses the same stamp on everything."

My beautiful interpretation:

"The idea that religion is declining,
Capitalism is dominating,
Society is developing,
Have all led to cultural chaos,
Is proved untrue.
As we all live in a world with the same cultural values."

- Carys.

erm..

Hi after being delegated (i think) the second paragraph to the first section, the only idea i could come up with is a poem after literally hours of brainstorming. Though whether you'd actually call it a poem when only 2 of the 3 lines rhyme is debatable

anyway here is the original-
"Films, radio and magazines make up a system which us uniform as a whole and in every part. Even the aesthetic activities of political opposites are one in their enthusiastic obedience to the rhythm of the iron system. The decorative industrial management buildings and exhibiton centers in authoritarian countries are much the same as anywhere else."

and my attempt at a poem...

'Films, radio and TV, all strive to conform
as differences yield to obedience, no one dares to outperform,
embellished buildings hint at a total aspiration.'

don't laugh

Ben

Hi - Laura here!


Right, I've done paragraph 4. I too have unleashed my bard skills and have written a poem:

Man eats

Man sleeps

Man works all day

Man comes home,

And needs to play,

TV tells politics

Of planet zog

Man not arsed

And wanders off

TV then shows gripping thriller:

He ate, he slept, he worked…

He was being watched!

Man watches show

With utter fixation

The academic takes note:

Use and gratification?

Awww I really wanted to do a video interpretation of this - but that ruddy thing called time got in the way. I've got to whizz off now - interviewing the Cardiff Blues rugby team this afternoon (I hope they're a bit phwoar!)

Mass culture or mass power?

For the portfolio task this week, I chose to adapt point two of the Adorno and Horkheimer extract, attempting to create a poem! It was difficult to rhyme it, but I got there in the end...even if the rhyme scheme is a bit sporadic.

The original text from Adorno,T. and M. Horkheimer (1994) "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" in The Dialectic of Enlightenment, New York: Seabury Press, is below for a reminder:

"Under monoploy all mass culture is identical, and the lines of its artificial framework begin to show through. The people at the top are no longer so interested in concealing monopoly: as its violence becomes more open, so its power grows. Movies and radio need no longer pretend to be art. The truth that they are just business is made into an ideology in order to justify the rubbish they deliberately produce. They call themselves industries; and when their directors' incomes are published, any doubt about the social utility of the finished products is removed."

I changed the above, into a more basic form, and after hours of tediously rhyming words and not getting anywhere, the outcome is this (below)...the point it makes is clear however:

"When a business controls the market, all the profit goes to one,
and all the public see is rubbish, for the "work" that had been done.
They don't care about hiding their power, and masking their money scheme,
their production is a masquerade and nothing is as it may seem. "

Well there you go...another portfolio task closer to Christmas....I enjoyed this one a lot!
Thanks cushioneers,

-Kendra

Capitalism: The Never-ending Lie

So, I got paragraph 5 of Adorno and Horkheimer's list of paragraphs. In case you're wondering just what that is, it's:

The culture industry perpetually cheats its consumers of what it perpetually promises. The promissory note which, with its plots and staging, it draws on pleasure is endlessly prolonged; the promise, which is actually all the spectacle consists of, is illusory: all it actually confirms is that the real point will never be reached, that the diner must be satisfied with the menu. In front of the appetite stimulated by all those brilliant names and images there is finally set no more than a commendation of the depressing everyday world it sought to escape.

Which I interpreted and wrote into a song that goes to the melody of Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. It doesn't really rhyme, and sure, there are even instances where the rhythm isn't right, but let's pretend everything is lovely and perfect. :D

Initially, I wanted to do a nice karaoke/sing-a-long video kind of thing, but I soon discovered that that was just way too complicated, so I ended up doing something really lame instead by using lots of images I got from Google (Yes, all the pictures I used are from searching with Google Images except the background), putting them all together with Adobe Photo Elements and getting the timing and music right with Windows Movie Maker. Fun!

The dream that is always played to us is but a lie.
Capitalists, they promise, but that dream still dies.
It never really exists, just in our mind.
Perpetual lies - it happens all of the time.

That's capitalism, woah!
That's capitalism, woah!
That's capitalism, woah!
And it doesn't do good!

Our hopes are built up and then they come crashing straight down.
All we've got left is depressing - reality.
But didn't they say we'd be happy everyday? No, no, no.
But that's what they told me - yes, happy everyday.

That's capitalism, woah!
That's capitalism, woah!
That's capitalism, woah!
And it doesn't do good!

♥ Sue-Anne

Our video extravaganza!!!

Ah the cushion club blog... seems like a while since I last posted here! But here goes... The Paragraph that myself and Danielle decided to translate was number 7.

All are free to dance and enjoy themselves, just as they have been free, since the historical neutralisation of religion, to join any of the innumerable sects. But freedom to choose an ideology - since ideology always refletcs economic coercion - everywhere proves to be freedom to choose what is always the same.

The most intimate reactions of human beings have been so thoroughly reified that the idea of anything specific to themselves now persists only as an abstract notion: personality scarcely signifies anything more than shining white teeth and freedom from body odour and emotions. The triumph of advertising in the culture industry is that consumers feel compelled to buy and use its products even though they see through them.

In order to be creative we decided to make a video (don't judge us lol) it was more fun than just translating it :) Anywho this is our visual interpretation of the paragraph ... Enjoy

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kIZ6uv3y0_U

-Amanda

*Portfolios a go-go

*Dunno why I called it that.....

Anyway, yay, back writing on the dear Cushion club blog :) , this time for portfolio entry number seven no less, how time has flown....This is the passage I chose to translate;

'Not only are the hit songs, stars, and soap operas cyclically recurrent and rigidly invariable types, but the specific content of the entertainment itself is derived from them and only appears to change. The details are interchangeable. The short interval sequence which was effective in a hit song, the hero's momentary fall from grace (which he accepts as good sport), the rough treatment which the beloved gets from the male star, the latter's rugged defiance of the spoilt heiress, are, like all other details, ready made cliches to be slotted in anywhere; they never do anything more than fulfil the purpose allotted them in the overall plan.'

Adorno, T. and M. Horkheimer (1944) 'The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception' in The Dialetic of Enlightenment, New York: Seabury Press

Being instructed to be as creative as possible, it took me a while but then inspiration struck, and I decided to translate the passage into a poem, more specifically into a Haiku. Haikus are a japanese form of poetry, consisting of three lines with five syllables in the first and third lines and seven syllables in the second line. This is what I managed to come up with:

Soaps, stars and hit songs
Are designed to entertain
Their content can change.

Creative? Displays flair? Maybe, but although haikus might only consist of three lines they can take long enough to come up with!

Happy Blogging! :)

Harriet C.

*The final countdown...

Afternoon all- I e-mailed our personal tutor, whose name conveniently found its way into our group name (Stephen Cushion in case anyone's been having a few heavy nights and can't really remember- not suggesting you're all alcoholics or anything, ....I'll keep digging...).
Anyway, Stephen said he teaches until four but I got the impression that he was going to try and come some time after that so everyone keep an eye out!

See you guys on monday :) !

*(Sorry- didn't mean to make that sound foreboding. Cracking song though.)