Consumer Capitalism: The Effects of the Mass Media in Modern Fine Art
In a country where powerful conglomerates control the distribution of information, Hollywood superstars reign supreme over both tabloids and respected media outlets alike, and the nation’s youth hold increasing fiscal power, it is unsurprising that the role of the fine arts, once functioning as a prized form of aesthetic expression for ancient civilizations, have become relegated to museums tucked away within sprawling metropoleis and the dusty pages of history texts. The emphasis of mass media of the United States on popular culture leaves little room for the coverage of the fine arts. As the general populace’s exposure to the fine arts, or that art which is created for aesthetics rather than utility, becomes limited, the demand for it diminishes, and the demand for homogenized “popular” art increases. Consumer capitalism combined with the efforts of mass media outlets have forced the fine arts to give way to art that is mass-produced for the consumption of the general populace. This blurring of the line between the art of the masses and fine art is facilitating an inevitable conclusion of a homogenized art world lacking all innovation or imagination.
In a country where powerful conglomerates control the distribution of information, Hollywood superstars reign supreme over both tabloids and respected media outlets alike, and the nation’s youth hold increasing fiscal power, it is unsurprising that the role of the fine arts, once functioning as a prized form of aesthetic expression for ancient civilizations, have become relegated to museums tucked away within sprawling metropoleis and the dusty pages of history texts. The emphasis of mass media of the United States on popular culture leaves little room for the coverage of the fine arts. As the general populace’s exposure to the fine arts, or that art which is created for aesthetics rather than utility, becomes limited, the demand for it diminishes, and the demand for homogenized “popular” art increases. Consumer capitalism combined with the efforts of mass media outlets have forced the fine arts to give way to art that is mass-produced for the consumption of the general populace. This blurring of the line between the art of the masses and fine art is facilitating an inevitable conclusion of a homogenized art world lacking all innovation or imagination.
Paragraph 1: The role of the arts sector in the American economy.
In 1787, impresario Pasquale Bondini commissioned from composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Pont an opera that would become one of the most famous operas of all time – Don Giovanni. The opera was performed to public and critical acclaim throughout Europe and is performed to this day; it has been sampled in a myriad of works, from Liszt’s Rémininscences de Don Juan to the soundtrack of the movie It Happened in Brooklyn. Operas such as Don Giovanni were once popular vehicles for popular thought and culture. They, along with symphonies, portraits and tapestries, cathedrals and parliamentary buildings, once presented fresh and revolutionary ideas to cultures, all in ways that were aesthetically appealing to the eye and ear. One’s socioeconomic status was partially determined by the quantity of literature they possessed and paintings adorning their walls, the structure of their homes, and attendance of the ballet or the opera. In a tradition spanning thousands of years, the foundations of Western culture have been built upon the operatic recitation of tragedies by the ancient Greeks, the symphonic stylings of Amadeus Mozart and Johann Sebastian Bach, the erection of the great Gothic cathedrals of the likes of Maurice de Sulley’s Notre Dame, the ceilings of Michelangelo and the statues of Donatello. The United States, a young nation in comparison to those spanning Western Europe, had the opportunity to incorporate historical art, music, and architecture from the émigrés appearing at its shores. Yet rather than increasing, the role of the fine arts in American society has shrunk.
In 1997, American consumers spent $9.991 billion on admissions to live performing arts (including opera, dance and symphony concerts). While this statistic seems a large sum at first glance, once must take into account that in the same year, consumers spent $28.290 billion on cable television (Heilbrun 7-8). Or, the estimated size of the art sector for that year is $19.583 billion, and the gross domestic product of the United States was $7,191.4 billion; therefore, the estimated size of the art sector of the economy was 0.218% of the total GDP (Heilbrun 9). The fact that fine art and culture plays such a minute role in one of the most powerful nations in the world is both troubling and . (Note: the general lack of statistical data regarding the various facets of the fine arts makes it impossible for one to discern between them [Heilbrun 7].)
Paragraph 2: Consumer Capitalism and Mass Media
Paragraph 2: Consumer Capitalism and Mass Media
A large contributing factor to the demise of the fine arts in American culture is consumer capitalism. Consumer capitalism, the theoretical economic and cultural condition in which consumer demand is manipulated through mass-marketing techniques to the advantage of sellers, is capitalism on the grandest of scales. It suggests manipulation of consumer demand so potent it borders on coercion, amounting to a departure from free-market capitalism and ultimately inflicts an adverse effect on society in general (Wikipedia “consumer capitalism”).
This manipulation of consumers is nowhere more evident than in the world of the fine arts, where consumers tastes are manipulated through mass-media outlets, such as television, radio, and contemporary literature. James Heilbrun, author of The Economics of Art and Culture, writes,
“Art is said to be an ‘aquired’ or ‘cultivated’ taste. [One] has to be familiar with art to find pleasure in it, and the more familiar with it you become the more pleasure you find. [If] taste itself depends on exposure, we are in danger of being trapped in a suboptimal position, in the following sense. Consumers would greatly enjoy art if they were familiar with it; however, familiarity comes only with exposure, and the public will not expose themselves to it since they have not the taste…From the point of view of high art the situation is aggravated by the collective impact of the mass media. The tastes for popular art is also an acquired one, but in this case the public gets plenty of exposure and is almost guaranteed to acquire the taste because the mass media …provide little else. The mass media cater to the taste of the majority, in this case for popular culture, such as the various forms of rock or country music; exposure through the mass media reinforces that taste; audience surveys then inform commercial producers that popular culture is what audiences want and the profit motive insures that they will continue giving it to them.” (361)
Heilbrun succinctly points the finger that the heart of the issue –the mass media’s lack of promotion of fine art drives down public demand, effectively shrinking the supply of fine art. Its converse, in which the mass media propagates popular culture – such as dubbing the paintings of Thomas Kinkade “fine art” – increases consumer spending. [Burke – ignoring one thing gives attention to another and vice versa] Unfortunately, today, the only review that counts in the real world is, as one writer put is, “sales in stores” (The End of Fashion 6). These homogenized forms of so-called “art” have been popularized by the mass media for fiscal gain, to the detriment of high art as a whole. As commercialism has consumed the art world, works of art “have become quasifinancial instruments” (Heilbrun 169). George Ritzer, author of The McDonaldization of Society, claims despite its perversion of high art forms, mass media favors its current modus operandi because it offers “efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control” over consumers (xv). Heilbrun ultimately concludes that “in the competition between popular culture and high art, the commercial mass media bias the outcome very sharply in favor of the former” (361).
· “In economics, consumption is the primary motivating force in the wealth or utility-maximizing paradigm…With the development of a consumer society, increasing consumer power in the market place, the growth in marketing, advertising, sophisticated consumers, ethical consumption, etc., it is recognized as central to modern life.”
· “A main concern [of economic materialism] is that materialism is unable to offer a proper raison d’être for human existence.” (Wikipedia)
· “One needs to look no further than the celebrity endorsement of products to dissuade the notion that American population makes its own decisions and modens itself as a group of individualists.” (Wikipedia “consumerism”)
· “My experience in lecturing on this theme shows that audiences generally support McDonaldization and feel protective toward it.” (Ritzer xv)
Paragraph 3: Painting
· “ ‘Production’ in the fine arts is carried out by painters and sculptors, and distribution of the product is handled by dealers and galleries. Unfortunately, we lack data on the value of these goods and services and so must omit it from the table.” (Heilbrun 9)
· Instead, artists like Thomas Kinkade have created a new niche, in which art is produced solely to attract consumers, rather than to inspire introspection or thought. Kinkade’s pastel portrayal of glowing bucolic scenes, replete with fairy-tale cottages and Biblical references, might inspire a regurgatory reflex in some critics, but have also earned Kinkade $53 million between 1997 and 2005 – myth has it that one in twenty American homes possess a Kinkade print.
· Heilbrun 176 – price impact of supply increase by artist
· “The demand curve of a single buyer, however, is not usually of much interest, since a single buyer is rarely important enough to influence the outcome in any market.” (Heilbrun 66)
· “According to the theory of asset demand, the decision to acquire art depends on the following: wealth, expected return on the asset relative to the return on all potential substitutes, expected risk, liquidity, tastes and preferences.” (Heilbrun 177)
· “Households that are wealthy can buy more assets, including art, than those that are not…Accordingly, we would expect purchases of most types of art to increase as household wealth increases. Among the exceptions to this general rule are so-called inferior goods, purchases of which may actually decline as wealth rises. Examples from the art world might include reproductions or art posters, which is many households are relegated to the basement of storage closets in response to growing affluence.” (Heilbrun 178)
Paragraph 4: Architecture
· John Chase, author of The Role of Consumerism in American Culture, writes that a building is consumerist in nature “when [its] design advertises the businesses [it] houses or intensifies the experience offered therein” (211). He also notes that “architecture that responds to consumerism deals in direct, rather than abstract, symbolism” (211).
· “the aesthetic of which all served as cultural and political symbols for spiritual and social systems”
· the history and provenance
· The McDonaldization of America, Ikea – page 5
· duplicative architecture – fast food restaurants, store chains, Walmart, Safeway, etc.
Paragraph 5: The Performing Arts
· Growth of the arts sector: Between 1984 and 1993, there was a 5.1% decrease in the attendance at five major dance companies. (Heilbrun 25) Between 1988 and 1995, there was a decrease of 13% and 15.3%, respectively, of symphony orchestra concerts offered, and attendance, despite a 17.2% rise in disposable personal income (Heilbrun 25).
· Disposable income is “the income available to consumers for spending or saving” (Heilbrun 13)
· Consumer spending as a percentage of disposable personal income has remained steady throughout the decades, from 0.155 (1929), 0.111 (1947), 0.091 (1980), and 0.134 (1990) to 0.170 (1997).
Paragraph 7: Criticism
· Critics of the theory of consumer capitalism hold that advertising is neither coersive nor probably effective…and that allegations of a coordinated effort to manipulate public opinion are nothing more than a conspiracy theory. (Stiegler, The Disaffected Individual – Ars Industrialis – read manifesto)
“Art is said to be an ‘aquired’ or ‘cultivated’ taste. [One] has to be familiar with art to find pleasure in it, and the more familiar with it you become the more pleasure you find. [If] taste itself depends on exposure, we are in danger of being trapped in a suboptimal position, in the following sense. Consumers would greatly enjoy art if they were familiar with it; however, familiarity comes only with exposure, and the public will not expose themselves to it since they have not the taste…From the point of view of high art the situation is aggravated by the collective impact of the mass media. The tastes for popular art is also an acquired one, but in this case the public gets plenty of exposure and is almost guaranteed to acquire the taste because the mass media …provide little else. The mass media cater to the taste of the majority, in this case for popular culture, such as the various forms of rock or country music; exposure through the mass media reinforces that taste; audience surveys then inform commercial producers that popular culture is what audiences want and the profit motive insures that they will continue giving it to them.” (361)
Heilbrun succinctly points the finger that the heart of the issue –the mass media’s lack of promotion of fine art drives down public demand, effectively shrinking the supply of fine art. Its converse, in which the mass media propagates popular culture – such as dubbing the paintings of Thomas Kinkade “fine art” – increases consumer spending. [Burke – ignoring one thing gives attention to another and vice versa] Unfortunately, today, the only review that counts in the real world is, as one writer put is, “sales in stores” (The End of Fashion 6). These homogenized forms of so-called “art” have been popularized by the mass media for fiscal gain, to the detriment of high art as a whole. As commercialism has consumed the art world, works of art “have become quasifinancial instruments” (Heilbrun 169). George Ritzer, author of The McDonaldization of Society, claims despite its perversion of high art forms, mass media favors its current modus operandi because it offers “efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control” over consumers (xv). Heilbrun ultimately concludes that “in the competition between popular culture and high art, the commercial mass media bias the outcome very sharply in favor of the former” (361).
· “In economics, consumption is the primary motivating force in the wealth or utility-maximizing paradigm…With the development of a consumer society, increasing consumer power in the market place, the growth in marketing, advertising, sophisticated consumers, ethical consumption, etc., it is recognized as central to modern life.”
· “A main concern [of economic materialism] is that materialism is unable to offer a proper raison d’être for human existence.” (Wikipedia)
· “One needs to look no further than the celebrity endorsement of products to dissuade the notion that American population makes its own decisions and modens itself as a group of individualists.” (Wikipedia “consumerism”)
· “My experience in lecturing on this theme shows that audiences generally support McDonaldization and feel protective toward it.” (Ritzer xv)
Paragraph 3: Painting
· “ ‘Production’ in the fine arts is carried out by painters and sculptors, and distribution of the product is handled by dealers and galleries. Unfortunately, we lack data on the value of these goods and services and so must omit it from the table.” (Heilbrun 9)
· Instead, artists like Thomas Kinkade have created a new niche, in which art is produced solely to attract consumers, rather than to inspire introspection or thought. Kinkade’s pastel portrayal of glowing bucolic scenes, replete with fairy-tale cottages and Biblical references, might inspire a regurgatory reflex in some critics, but have also earned Kinkade $53 million between 1997 and 2005 – myth has it that one in twenty American homes possess a Kinkade print.
· Heilbrun 176 – price impact of supply increase by artist
· “The demand curve of a single buyer, however, is not usually of much interest, since a single buyer is rarely important enough to influence the outcome in any market.” (Heilbrun 66)
· “According to the theory of asset demand, the decision to acquire art depends on the following: wealth, expected return on the asset relative to the return on all potential substitutes, expected risk, liquidity, tastes and preferences.” (Heilbrun 177)
· “Households that are wealthy can buy more assets, including art, than those that are not…Accordingly, we would expect purchases of most types of art to increase as household wealth increases. Among the exceptions to this general rule are so-called inferior goods, purchases of which may actually decline as wealth rises. Examples from the art world might include reproductions or art posters, which is many households are relegated to the basement of storage closets in response to growing affluence.” (Heilbrun 178)
Paragraph 4: Architecture
· John Chase, author of The Role of Consumerism in American Culture, writes that a building is consumerist in nature “when [its] design advertises the businesses [it] houses or intensifies the experience offered therein” (211). He also notes that “architecture that responds to consumerism deals in direct, rather than abstract, symbolism” (211).
· “the aesthetic of which all served as cultural and political symbols for spiritual and social systems”
· the history and provenance
· The McDonaldization of America, Ikea – page 5
· duplicative architecture – fast food restaurants, store chains, Walmart, Safeway, etc.
Paragraph 5: The Performing Arts
· Growth of the arts sector: Between 1984 and 1993, there was a 5.1% decrease in the attendance at five major dance companies. (Heilbrun 25) Between 1988 and 1995, there was a decrease of 13% and 15.3%, respectively, of symphony orchestra concerts offered, and attendance, despite a 17.2% rise in disposable personal income (Heilbrun 25).
· Disposable income is “the income available to consumers for spending or saving” (Heilbrun 13)
· Consumer spending as a percentage of disposable personal income has remained steady throughout the decades, from 0.155 (1929), 0.111 (1947), 0.091 (1980), and 0.134 (1990) to 0.170 (1997).
Paragraph 7: Criticism
· Critics of the theory of consumer capitalism hold that advertising is neither coersive nor probably effective…and that allegations of a coordinated effort to manipulate public opinion are nothing more than a conspiracy theory. (Stiegler, The Disaffected Individual – Ars Industrialis – read manifesto)
Conclusion:
· swimming upstream against a current of societal reluctance with the weight of mass media marketing tied to its ankles.
· swimming upstream against a current of societal reluctance with the weight of mass media marketing tied to its ankles.
Works Cited
Cerni, Paula. "The Age of Consumer Capitalism." Cultural Logic, 2007.
Heilbrun, James, and Charles M. Gray. The Economics of Art and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization of Society 5. Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press, 2008.
Aristotle. “The Poetics.” Republic.< http://www.authorama.com/the-poetics-2.html>
Chase, John. “The Role of Consumerism in American Architecture.” Journal of Architectural Education. Aug. 1991. pp. 211-224. Vol. 44, No. 4. < http://www.jstor.org/pss/1425143>
Horyn, Cathy. "Fashion, but maybe beside the point." NewYorkTimes.com. 8 Sept. 2008.The New York Times.8 Sept. 2008 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/fashion/shows/09review.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=fashion,%20but%20maybe%20beside%20the%20point&st=cse&oref=slogin >
Roulet, Norm. "Art, McDonaldization, and the Globalization of Society." RealNeo. 6 Nov. 2004.Cleveland Institute of Art.38 Sept. 2008 http://realneo.us/blog/norm-roulet/11/05/04-7-8-pm-art-mcdonaldization-and-the-globalization-of-society.
Target Brands, Inc. "Women." Target.com. Target Brands, Inc. 23 Sept. 2008 http://www.target.com/women/b/ref=nav_t_spc_1_1/601-6704314-2507318?ie=utf8&node=1041790.
Whiteley, Nigel. “Pop, Consumerism, and the Design Shift.” Design Issues,, Vol. 2, No. 2 Design Issues. Autumn 1985. pp. 31-45, Vol. 2, No. 2 < http://www.jstor.org/pss/1511416>
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