Banksy, the Simpsons and Adorno
In the early 1920s, two philosophers (Adorno and Horkheimer) started the Frankfurt School and coined the term “Culture Industry” to describe the Commodification of Art (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1947), drawing on the likes of Marx ideas of commodification and capital, Hegel’s ideas of social consciousness, and Nietzsche’s ideas of autonomy (Fagan, n.d.). Adorno’s writing however, is deliberately dense and difficult to access, in an attempt to maintain the illusion of “High” Art, and illustrate the role of suffering within art (Fagan, n.d.).
When presented with the opportunity to illustrate an introduction to the Simpsons Banksy repackaged Adorno and Horkheimer’s Culture Industry into a format that we could understand.
Banksy’s introduction to the Simpsons is dense, long and depressing, illustrating entertainment as industry, and in a show, such as the Simpsons, which is so scrutinized that changing the object of a TV in the introduction sequence became an international media event, it’s worth noting that the artists creating the work probably intended every single nuance of meaning, and it’s not surprising that Banksy’s (Kruse, 2010) guest sequence contains many complex ideas.
But, while it is possible to try to dissect every element of Banksy’s extended introduction to the Simpsons and pull meaning from these elements, it’s also worthwhile taking a more aesthetic view to the episode, and simply ask “what is he trying to teach us?”
Elements of the work touch on the concept of work itself and art being both labour that is devalued (merchandised, subverted and commodified), in line with what Adorno and Horkheimer (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1947) termed “culture industries”, but also the episode makes the point of Art being something we instinctively create when writing on, or off, a chalkboard.
Therefore, Banksy seems to be fighting Adorno and Horkheimer’s ideas of ‘culture industries’ for packaging, using the culture industry’s tools themselves. Banksy’s other work, such as his self-shredding painting, are further examples of his own attempts to fight this commodification. To preserve his pop culture “Aura” he is anonymous, invisible, ephemeral (August Aghast, 2019).
Once we have grasped this concept ourselves, and our impacts (which are portrayed as being toxic, radiation-dipped merch that is literally killing people) what obligations do we have? Knowledge is power, after all, and “with great power comes great responsibility” (to both quote Spiderman, and to paraphrase Emannuel Kant’s Moral Imperative)
Well. We can:
· Care.
· Credit your influences.
· Don’t buy from Wish (ugh I’m so guilty)
· Cite your sources.
· Properly tag your mash-ups.
· Credit your memes.
· Acknowledge the post-modern pastiche of intertextuality that exists (all writing is made up of other things).
· Steal only in need from those with power.
· Pay in rep.
· Fix abusive systems.
· Pay for your porn.
· Make art.
Thank you.
References
Adorno, T., & Horkheimer, M. (1947). The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception (1993 Translation). In Dialectic of Enlightenment. Continuum.
August Aghast. (2019, October 2). Walter Benjamin: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blq9sCIyXgA
Fagan, A. (n.d.). Theodor Adorno (1903–1969). In Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. University of Essex. Retrieved 2 July 2020, from https://www.iep.utm.edu/adorno/
Kruse, N. (2010). MoneyBart Introduction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSU1IJk70i4
