We read that art was exclusively meant for the royal and the elite class in the Middle Ages. Masses were not allowed to enter in the area where it was projected. As Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan in the “Introduction: The politics of Culture” says that art was viewed and appreciated only by the literate and elite people and it was kept away from the masses because ‘that might impel them to rebellion’ (1233). But we see that with the advancement of technology art started becoming available for the masses especially with photography which started reproducing as many copies as needed by the masses. Hence, technology brought entertainment for everybody. But capitalism in a way has appropriated the availability of entertainment to the masses for its own convenience in a very subtle way. It provides entertainment – film, art, music etc. but supervises the images shown on television. In a way I feel it dominates and also creates superficial tastes for us. I remember during 1980s and probably 90s when in India there were rebellions from every corner of the country especially Kashmir we could see lots of national songs and videos were shown that are done by the popular personalities of the country which talked about the unity that one should have in the country. Which in a very subtle manner stopped us to think about the rebellions or rather it developed in our mind a negative approach towards the states that revolted. These videos were so emotional that it could bring tears in one’s eyes. However, we do not find similar videos that are composed in recent time.
It is interesting to note that ‘culture comes from below’ (1234) but the role that ‘people from below’ or masses play in constructing their culture for themselves. Does it reflect that masses are not conscious about what they see on television? As Marx Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno in ‘The Culture Industry as Mass Deception’ says that there is uniformity of media and the continuous projection of stereotypical images who are mocked and the mockery creates entertainment. But who are the stereotyped image? Is he rich man who is mocked or a member of the royal family? Generally we see the mocking images are the masses themselves or the marginalized people of society. Such as a fat lady, a gay couple or a man of color who is projected as the bad guy. In India nowadays every channel conducts a reality show where they bring the poor or lower income people and talk about their dreams, shows their poverty stricken condition and relates it to their dreams of leaving behind their present condition and to get a better place to live. So we get entertainment from the poverty of another person, we laugh when we see a fat woman on television. I wonder, in a heterogeneous society where media is more or less homogeneous and definitely ideology plays a crucial role in it, whether we are conscious of our culture or is it the dominant group which sets culture for us?