Sameness

This week for Media Theory, we discussed Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno’s arguments that within the culture industry “something is provided for everyone so that no one can escape….” and the argument that we ourselves are becoming commodities because of the spectacle of mass media. Everyone, be they business, individual or subculture group, has a price and a point at which they become part of mainstream either because they desire more of a profit or because mass media has essentially sold them out and depicted them as a simple trend to be appropriated. This argument combined well with Dick Hebdige’s idea that even though subcultures start out as unique movements challenging the mainstream ideas, through hegemony and media depictions, the subcultures eventually all become part of a mainstream trend--the non-conformists simply conform to another set of “non-conformist” ideas.  As stated by Hebdige (particularly discussing youth cultures, but this idea can be extended to any subculture), “Youth cultural styles may being by issuing symbolic challenges, but they must inevitably end by establishing new sets of conventions; by creating new commodities, new industries or rejuvenating old ones.” 

These ideas were timely and brought to mind an internet “subculture” I frequent called Offbeat Bride. This subculture prides itself on going against mainstream wedding ideas (what they call the Wedding Industrial Complex), incorporating various forms of non-traditional subcultures into their weddings. Subcultures from steampunk to rockabilly to Wiccan are featured on the site and it prides itself on its “offbeatness.” What I found particularly interesting given the context of this week’s readings, was the article the site ran recently discussing how “offbeatness” had become not so offbeat. The author of the article recognized that there had become certain markers of an offbeat bride (a red wedding dress, converse sneakers, a birdcage veil, just to name a few) that were so well known they no longer seemed unconventional. Rather, they seemed a way for other so-called Offbeat Brides to identify themselves, to mark themselves as “non-tradtional.” Some users of the site even get upset when other users don’t fall within the offbeat norms not recognizing that they are conforming to their own non-conformist vocabulary. Furthermore, as Horkheimer and Adorno state, “there must be something for everyone...” and even the offbeat tribe can not escape the commidification of culture. Small business retailers such as those found on Etsy have begun to cater to these offbeat trends offering items that fit within them. While I don’t think the small businesses catering to those “offbeat” trends is necessarily problematic (they definitely don’t dictate trends as largely or nearly as rigidly as the traditional wedding industry), I did find Horkheimer, Adorno and Hebdige’s arguments very apt in describing what has happened to a once extremely unconventional group of ideas. They certainly aren’t completely mainstream (and I don’t know that they will ever be), but the styles found within the site, despite trying to avoid creating a new vocabularly surrounding weddings, have inevitably demonstrated Horkheimer, Adorno and Hebdige’s theories and created new sets of offbeat conventions and commodities.