Must-Not-Realize-the-Truth TV: Frankfurt School/Critical Political Economy Theory and Primetime Television
The revolution would come. The revolution had to come. Since the arrival of the previous “revolution”the Industrial Revolutionthe economic practice of capitalism exploited the working class. In Karl Marx’s point of view, something had to give. The elites’ control of society’s means of productionand therefore the society’s culturewould soon come to an end when the workers unite and overthrow the avarice-driven tyranny of the capitalist class. A golden age of equality, justice, and true democracy would be the end result of the revolution.
Marx’s predicted social revolution, and subsequent egalitarian utopia, never came.
In the 1930s, the Frankfurt School emerged. This was a school of neomarxist theory. The Frankfurt School was very much in line with the basic concepts of Marxismthe base (means of production) determines the superstructure (realm of ideology, beliefs, and social institutions). Traditional Marxism states that the base-superstructure relationship is a one-way street, but the Frankfort School’s theory allows the superstructure to be able to condition the base.
Within the superstructure are the culture industries. During the 1930s, the prominent culture industries were print media, movies, and radio. According to Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, and other proponents of the Frankfurt School, these culture industries contributed to the oppression of the working class. The culture industries produced uniformitythe passive masses would believe themselves to be consumers, first and foremost. Additionally, the culture industries proliferated escapismthe masses would only think of unimportant, sensationalistic things and not the pain and suffering of the human condition. Thirdly, these industries produced false needs through advertising. The masses would have a fetish for the commodity, and the larger cycle that produces the commodity would be ignored. In total, the culture industries sought to destroy utopian visions and maintain the oppression of the masses. Like Marx before them, the Frankfurt School anticipated a revolution.
Political Economy Theory also follows Marx’s precepts of the base and the superstructure. More specifically, this school of neomarxist theory explains how economic institutions, structures, and practices work to establish and maintain social power. We shall look at Political Economy Theory, in conjunction with the Frankfurt School, in the realm of commercial primetime television. How does the commercial structure of television influence programming? How is television, as well as other media, structured and controlled? What role does television play in the establishing and maintaining of social power, and who controls this social power? Who controls television, and by logical extension, other forms of mass communication such as print media, Hollywood films, radio, and the Internet?
From the beginning of the spoken word to the start of literacy to the invention of the printing press to the technological innovations of recent history and today, media have increasingly become intertwined with the very fabric of our society. The Frankfurt School and Critical Political Economy try to explain the impact of media in society. These critical neomarxist theories look at the connection between the controllers of media and the economic system we live in. It is a question of power. In our case, we are concerned with the role of television in the maintenance of the well-oiled machine of capitalist America.
We shall discuss commercial primetime television that aired on Tuesday, November 23, 2004. In that three-hour time slot, I watched the following shows: My Wife and Kids at 8 PM, on ABC; The George Lopez Show at 8:30 PM, on ABC; According to Jim at 9 PM, on ABC; Scrubs at 9:30 PM, on NBC; and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (to be called Law & Order: SVU from here on) at 10 PM, on NBC. The cyclical nature of modern American society was evident on that night. These shows were broadcast on the week of Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 25), and two of the showsThe George Lopez Show and According to Jimhad storylines reflecting the holiday. Furthermore, the majority of advertising was directly linked to, or at least mentioned, the upcoming holiday season, which traditionally starts the day after Thanksgiving. A commercial for Wal-Mart’s after-Thanksgiving sale appeared in all five shows.
The three ABC family sitcoms primarily focused on the dad character. Similarly, some of the commercials broadcast during these shows contained similar fatherly archetypes. The primary storyline in My Wife and Kids episode involved Damon Wayans’ character in a wise, Father Knows Best-like relationship to his not-so-smart son. Not coincidentally, a commercial for Pillsbury, which aired during the show’s first commercial break, featured a son looking to his father for advice. Ray Romano, an icon of the family sitcom genre, appeared in an advertisement for the St. Jude’s Research Hospital. The fast-food chain Wendy’s metaphorically resurrected the company’s late founder Dave Thomas, and that commercial highlighted the fatherly wisdom of Dave Thomas.
All three family sitcoms had advertisements for family-oriented shopping (Sears, Wal-Mart, and even a Kay Jewelers commercial with a nuclear family setting), recent family DVD/home video releases (Shrek 2, Elf, and Sleepover), upcoming family theatrical releases (Christmas with the Kranks and seemingly quirky Spanglish), and family oriented vehicles (the Honda Odyssey minivan and the “secure feeling,” courtesy of the Ford 500). While the majority of ads during these sitcoms were pretty tame, themes and products not suitable for younger children showed up after 9 PM. A Levi’s commercial that showed a woman losing her pants to her boyfriend’s dog aired during According to Jim. Advertisements for less-family oriented (but still relatively family friendly) movies, such as The Terminal and Spider-Man 2, were shown after nine o’clock. In all, the ads targeted families as single units, as well as the individuals that make up families: moms, dads, kids, and even the family dog (facetiously speaking, with the Pedigree dog food commercial).
The NBC shows that aired from 9:30-11 PM skewed toward twenty- and thirty-something adults. The comedy Scrubs and the drama Law & Order: SVU focused on career-driven characters (medical and law enforcement, respectively) in an urban setting, in contrast to the domestically-centered family sitcoms on ABC. Not coincidentally, many of the commercials shown reflected the apparent lifestyle of the target audience. Automobile commercials showed road-tripping adults (Ford Freestyle, Nissan Pathfinder, and Toyota 4-Runner) and fast cars (Audi A4). The commercials for upcoming movies (Ocean’s 12, Blade Trinity, and Kinsey) did not target children and families. The U2/Apple iPod commercial and the Sarah Jessica Parker-centered commercial for The Gap were geared toward a supposedly hip and trendy consumers. The commercials for Victoria’s Secret and the erectile dysfunction drug Levitra were obviously intended for adult consumption. There was even a St. Jude’s Research Hospital commercial during Law & Order: SVU, but Sarah Jessica Parker (an icon of the supposedly hip and trendy lifestyle) replaced Ray Romano as spokesperson. The target audiences for Scrubs and Law & Order: SVU differed sharply from the three ABC family sitcoms.
According to the Frankfurt School, the culture industriesin our case, televisionproduce uniformity. Even though different ethnic groups are representedMy Wife and Kids is African American, The George Lopez Show is Latino American, According to Jim is Midwestern white American, and Rodney (the show that follows but I did not watch) is Southern white Americanthe families depicted in these ABC sitcoms are symbols of uniformity. All three shows feature slightly extended nuclear families (dad, mom, kids, and goofy relatives and/or friends). The dad character can be slightly foolish at timesin According to Jim, a turkey shot an arrow into Jim Belushi’s posteriorbut in the end, the dad always provides for his family. Damon Wayans saved his son from an unfair contract. George Lopez realized that small towns could be as dangerous for his children as large cities. Jim Belushi serendipitously killed the turkey that wronged him.
The wife/mother character in all three shows are loving, supportive wives and reflections of the nurturing Triaminic (children’s medication) mom from one of the commercials. George’s wife was as determined as her husband to make sure their kids do not get into deep trouble. After failing at hunting a turkey, Jim’s wife reassured her husband of his importance. Since we are talking about sitcoms, they too can be silly at timesDamon’s wife was in competition with her daughter for the attention of their yoga instructor.
The children in the shows needed guidance from their parents, especially their dads. As mentioned earlier, Damon’s son needed his dad to save him from an unfair contract. George’s two children were as susceptible to vice in a small town as in a large city. One of Jim’s daughters unconditionally believed in her father’s ability to provide for their family.
The archetypes depicted in these shows asserted a presumed ideal of how a family should look like in our society. The ideal of the nuclear family has remained in the collective American psyche from the Industrial Revolution to today. These same nuclear family archetypes were depicted in various commercials for holiday shopping (Sears, JC Penney, Kay Jewelers, etc.). These standardized family units are all consumers, and that is the primary goal of the culture industry of television. Everyone must think of themselves as consumers. It helps that family and family-like groupings are the norm in American society because the consumerism of the holidays is aimed toward families. Our consumerist culture facilitates the crowded shopping malls on the day after Thanksgiving because we need to buy Christmas (or equivalent holiday) gifts for each other.
We are not going to leave out non-parenting adults (the target for the NBC shows) in our discussion of uniformity. The main characters in Scrubs and Law & Order: SVU all have steady jobs. Why do they work? They need money to buy clothes from The Gap, buy the iPod, and buy U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. How else can they afford to go on Ford Freestyle road trips and Toyota 4-Runner jungle adventures, not to mention the monthly payments for those vehicles? Loverboy was righteverybody is working for the weekend.
The culture industry of television encourages the viewer to think of unimportant things. Television is about escapism and sensationalism. Tuesday’s episode of Law & Order: SVU was about a “he said/she said” case of alleged rape; the plot was eerily similar to the (as of 2004) recent events involving Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. There was no verdict at the end of the episode because the producers want the audience to go to the show’s website and vote for the guilt or innocence of the rape suspect. This is manufactured empathy for the pain and suffering of the human condition. This is an opportunity to participate in a make-believe, high profile case and to escape from the mundane that characterizes everyday life.
Television programming and advertising are about the fetish of the commodity. Thinking about the larger processes that create products is frowned upon. We are not supposed to think about factory conditions and exploited labor in the manufacturing of Old Navy clothes and The Gap clothes. We are supposed to feel that these products would either make great gifts for others or for personal use. The Chex Mix commercial shown during Scrubs’ third commercial break creates a feeling of nostalgia for the product, but there is no room in the ad to give credit to the farm, factory, distribution, and grocery store labor that makes it possible to consume Chex Mix. The Diamond Trading Company wants to remind us that a bigger and better diamond ring is necessary for romantic gestures, such as renewing one’s marriage vows. However, that same company does not want to explain how the diamond industry works. We are supposed to buy, buy, buy, and never ask questions. Ironically, Tuesday’s episode of According to Jim reminded us about the process of having turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, but that is a trivial enough concession for the culture industries to give to consumers.
Television perpetuates of the status quo, and there are consequences for trying to break the status quo. Jim Belushi reminded us where Thanksgiving turkeys come from, but he suffered an embarrassing fate nonetheless. The moral: It is safer to buy a frozen bird from the supermarket. Sarah Chalke’s character on Scrubs lost the opportunity to get a fellowship grant because she tried to change the way she acted. My Wife and Kids told the audience that father knows best, and that a married woman should not try to compete with her single daughter for the attention of their yoga instructor. All the characters functioned within the capitalist system and did not complain. In fact, during the third commercial break of The George Lopez Show, an ad from Citi stated, “There’s more to life than money.” There are many ways to take this message. An optimistic reading of the text might take the message at face value and leave happy and hopeful in the “free” things in life. However, a neomarxist might look at this message as an empty consolation for being part of the exploited classes. There is more to life than money because the promise that capitalism offers is unattainable to most people. Let the capitalist class make (or more accurately, take) the money and power, while the rest can try to live happily in ignorance.
In this critical neomarxist analysis of commercial primetime television, we can see how social power remains in the hands of the elite through the medium of television. Family sitcoms uplift the virtues of the nuclear familythe strong breadwinner, the nurturing mother, and the oft-disobedient children who need to learn how to be strong breadwinners and nurturing mothers. Occupational shows uplift the value and heroism of hard, albeit underpaid, work. Television shows are mirrors reflecting the needs and wants of the advertisers. That is why the families depicted in commercials bear resemblance to the families depicted in the shows. That is why lifestyles depicted in commercials are the same lifestyles of these fictional television characters. That is why we are encouraged to spend more and more every proceeding holiday season. Commercials influence television programming; it is not the other way around. The capitalist class wants to propagandize the working and middle classes to believe in the rightness of the capitalist system. We must all be consumers. To be consumers, we must all be workers and make barely enough money to buy products, but never enough money to stop working for the capitalist class. There is order within the nuclear family, and good parents teach their children how to be good workers for the system. It is in the best interest of the capitalist class for the cycle to repeat for an innumerable amount of generations, and it is in the best interest of exploited classes to not realize the truth of their condition.
It almost makes you want to start a revolution.
