Thread by @Katja_Thieme

@BryanVanNorden recently linked this piece on Adorno and music; it was published a little while back in Feb 2018. I've not read Adorno's writing on music; but I want to sketch out some thoughts on what's said about his ideas on #genre in this piece. 1/

aeon.co/amp/essays/aga…

First, I liked learning about the historical context and biographical detail in this piece. That Adorno's mother was a singer; he himself played the piano and studied with Alban Berg. (I've not read much Adorno biography, clearly.) 2/

Since I was talking about #30JahreMauerfall last week, also of interest is that in exile in Los Angeles, Adorno worked with Hanns Eisler, a composer and close collaborator of Bertolt Brecht. When Eisler had to leave the US, he settled in the #DDR; he wrote the national anthem. 3/

I've not studied theories on musical genre, but I've studied literary and rhetorical #genrestudies. When the article talks about Adorno's ideas about high and popular art, it also and indirectly talks about #genre. 4/

It sounds odd to me now to associate #genre as directly with morality as Adorno seems to have done. I know that to tie genres to social/moral questions was a common interpretative strategy--I encountered it in modified ways during my art history M.A., mostly among students. 5/

"Popular culture presents itself as a release of our repressed emotions & desires, as an increase in freedom. But in truth, it robs us of our freedom twice--both aesthetically (failing to give aesthetic freedom in enjoying art) & morally (blocking the path to social freedom)." 6/

I like this part about aesthetic freedom: "freedom in experiencing, interpreting and understanding artworks. This freedom requires an artwork to give us space and time to inhabit it, and to experience it as a unified whole." That sounds luxurious. 7/

I also nod along when the author observes that demands of work, and fragmentation of schedules, stand in the way of having regular opportunity to experience complex artworks as integrated wholes. If one wants to do that; I don't think everyone does. 8/

When the article then goes on to illustrate how popular films and songs consist of set pieces and catchy fragments, that's a #genrestudies observation about generic structures. That's then linked to moral questions around "guilty pleasure." 9/

"We don't expect it to stand up under close scrutiny. We enjoy it for what it is--guilty pleasure. ...we know that what we are doing could be better, but resolve to enjoy it anyway. Adorno sees this as the very core of what is wrong with popular culture." 10/

Things just seem to get wildly mixed up here. The main assumption is that the pleasure is guilty. Is it? Are you always thinking about the need for closer scrutiny, for wanting to do better, when consuming pop culture? If so, who's to say we don't think the same for high art? 11/

Having come through rhetorical #genrestudies my mind just balks at the idea of linking generic form to morality in this way. From a rhetorical perspective, genres are functional--not moral--forms. They can be put to moral, political, conservative, progressive, etc. purposes. 12/

This: "To attend a performance of a symphony takes not only money, but also time, and freedom from immediate needs and anxieties--it requires an insulation against worries about money, food and security."

Applies just as well to pop concerts, festivals, clubbing doesn't it? 13/

Once you recognize that it does, the rest kind of falls apart. At first read I thought the problem might be that #genrestudies doesn't have an analysis of political economy and so doesn't tend to mix genre analysis with terms like "cultural industry." But it's a good thing. 14/

I also realize that I buy much more into Jauss's take on genre than I do into what's described as Adorno's in this article. Imagine that. (Probably not gaining leftist cred with that view. 😬)

Maybe @GenreResearch has comments? 15/

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