Hal Himmelsten: Television Myth and the American Mind

1
Hal Himmelsten Television Myth and the American
Mind

• Himmelsteins thesis Commercial TV acts as an
  opiate of the masses by avoiding information
  which challenges the dominant ideology of
  industrial capitalism.
• As an opiate, it distracts attention away from
  the harsh by-products of our economic system
• Over-rationalization and mundane work routines
• Stratification and issues of inequality
• Rising control of our lives by a corporate elite,
  who set standards and ideals that are unrealistic
• Massification and erosion of community ties
• Erosion of spiritual values

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The Primary goal of the mass media

• The primary goal of the commercial mass media is
  to deliver a receptive audience to the sponsor.
• In commercial television, the ideal viewer is an
  emotional, unthinking, consumer machine whose
  buttons can be easily pushed.

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Basic Technique used by Mass Media

• Link the the ideals of industrial capitalism with
  certain cultural myths.
• Socialize people into these ideals, which is
  easier if the ideal is associated with certain
  powerful myths.
• Result our personal identities and goals are
  fused with cultural ideals that reflect the
  dominant ideology of capitalism. Consequently
  these capitalist ideals go largely unchallenged.

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What do capitalists say we need to live a
fulfilling life?

• Wealth (as opposed to a life of moderation)
• Private property (as opposed to public property)
• Youth (as opposed to any other age)
• Power, ambition, or greed (as opposed to
  equality, acceptance, or sharing)
• Physical beauty (as opposed to character and
  spiritual beauty)
• A competitive spirit (as opposed to cooperation)
• Conformity to styles/rules (versus independence)
  Capitalists tend to presume the primacy of these
  possessions as a means to a happy personal
  life, a happy love life, a happy family life, and
  a happy community life.

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Corporate Capitalist Ideology

• The corporate capitalist ideology is similar to
  the capitalist ideology, except it suggests that
  concentrated power (monopoly, oligopoly),
  over-rationalization, and economic imperialism
  are legitimate behaviors.
• It is remarkable that the corporate capitalist
  value system is not seen as more controversial by
  Americans, given the American ideals of freedom,
  individualism, equality, and justice.
• Dominant ideologies are rarely questioned, even
  when they are contradictory.
• This is why racism and sexism thrived for so long
  in our so-called free country. Americans had to
  be woken up to these contradictions by social
  movements.

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Ideology

• Ideology refers to the set of assumptions we use
  to understand social relationships.
• Specifically, ideology is a belief system that
  explains economic, political, and social reality
  and establishes the collective goals of a group.
• Ideology legitimizes some form of social
  relationship, whether it be stratified (as in
  sexism) or egalitarian (as in feminism).

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Dominant ideology

• The main belief system that explains social
  reality and establishes the collective goals of a
  society.
• Dominant ideology is normative.
• It provides prescriptions for how to think and
  act in support of the status quo.
• Example what is ladylike? To be polite and
  passive, which is consistent with the dominant
  ideology/social system of patriarchy.
• Dominant ideology is a product of the dominant
  social class.
• In the U.S., wealthy capitalists.

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Dominant Ideology

• The dominant ideology makes social relationships
  appear commonsensical.
• It provides a justification for why things are
  the way they are, so that we rarely question
  existing arrangements.
• Example Until recently, the dominant ideology
  said that a womans place is in the home. How did
  it justify this?

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Cultural Myths

• Advocates of the dominant ideology typically
  employ the use of cultural myths to elevate their
  ideology into the sacred realm of eternal
  truth.
• Myths are recurrent themes and stories that speak
  to a cultures heritage and identity.

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Myths have several features

• 1. Myths are part fiction, part fact.
• 2. Myths elevate historical events into the realm
  of the sacred. They transcend the ordinary
  mundane world.
• 3. Myths are powerful. We internalize them in
  childhood and they affect our identities.
• 4. Myths are normative. They tell us how to
  behave by providing examples of ideal behaviors,
  typically by cultural heroes.

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Example of how a cultural myth can be put in the
service of capitalism

• The Christ myth. This myth has shifted
  historically toward providing support for
  capitalism.
• Today, our capitalist nation emphasizes Christ as
  a guardian against personal sin more than a
  guardian against social sin.
• Recall in the Bible the greed of the bankers -
  early capitalists and how Christ supported the
  beggars over the bankers.
• This story is toned down today in favor of
  speaking against personal sin. Many conservative
  Christians speak only of personal sin, which is
  remarkable. This serves the interests of
  capitalists.

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The Christ myth, continued

• Christmas, as a holiday, has shifted toward
  consumerism as a way to express love.
• Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) bears material gifts
  for those who obey the rules.
• Since the early 19th century, Christmas rituals
  shifted to shopping. Today the malls are packed -
  perhaps more than the churches.
• Gifts are placed under the sacred tree making
  them sacred gifts.
• The Macys parade is a spectacle of celebration,
  little of it having much to do with Christ. Isnt
  Macys a capitalist department store? What are we
  really celebrating?

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Christ in the service of capitalism?

• Has the religious holiday called Christmas been
  co-opted by secular capitalists, who have
  capitalized on specific Christ myths and
  modified them to serve their own agenda?
• Didnt Christians do something similar to the
  ancient pagans, when they appropriated the pagan
  myths and rituals in the service of Christianity
  in order to legitimize and elevate their emerging
  ideology into a dominant ideology?

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Myths are used to defuse

• Myths are employed in the service of the dominant
  ideology to defuse challenges to this ideology.
• Those who challenge a dominant ideology are
  labeled heretics because they are perceived
  to be challenging something sacred.
• Those who challenge capitalism in the U.S. are
  branded heretics, just as those who challenge
  communism in Red China are branded heretics.
• The heretic is to be persecuted and punished.
  Christ was a heretic.

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What ideologies are we generally not permitted to
challenge in the U.S.?

• Capitalism (and its corresponding values
  competition, private property, free market)
• Christianity
• Freedom
• Individualism
• Democracy
• Few Americans even want to challenge any of
  these ideologies because we have been socialized
  into their virtues.

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Capitalist Media

• Of all dominant ideologies, the most significant
  to the mass media is capitalism.
• The American media is mostly a product of
  capitalism and it is used in the service of
  capitalism.
• Television, the most powerful media in history,
  promotes certain cultural myths in the service of
  capitalism.

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Cultural Myths used in the Service of Capitalism
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The Myth of Eternal Progress

• This myth portrays the American economic system
  as a system of limitless expansion and
  opportunity. This is the American Dream.
• The myth is supported by clichés like rags to
  riches, dare to be great, anything is
  possible with hard work.
• This myth makes American capitalism seem like it
  has delivered on its promise for all. If one is
  poor, it cant be due to the system. (The myth
  overlooks racism and other hurdles to success).
• Examples this myth is emphasized in ads, TV
  shows like The Jeffersons, tabloid interviews
  with sports stars who worked hard to get ahead,
  etc.

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The Creation Myth

• This myth emphasizes the idea that material
  consumption brings salvation. Recreation and
  play are emphasized over reflection as a source
  of fulfillment.
• Emphasis is on hedonism and the pursuit of
  happiness through consumer behaviors.
• This myth could be renamed the recreation myth.
• Recreation is sacred now, not introspection.
• Examples lots of TV ads, such as a beer ad that
  shows ecstasy on the face of a beach beer drinker
  as he guzzles in slow motion with a beautiful
  woman in the background Entertainment TV (E TV)
  features this myth as they follow the party
  crowd.

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Myth of Manifest Destiny

• This myth portrays our sacred destiny as a
  special people (as Americans, Christians, or
  capitalists) to achieve empire.
• The myth supported militant imperialism in
  earlier times. Today it mainly supports economic
  and cultural imperialism.
• The myth promotes a fear of weakness (keep
  America strong!).
• Examples of how it is used to support capitalism
  A Pepsi ad that says we are the world, or the
  Clear Channel annual report emphasizing their
  goal of synergy. Another example would be an
  old Hollywood western that celebrates the
  colonization of the Wild West (by capitalist
  land-grabbers).

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Myth of Polarity

• Himmelstein calls this the myth of racism, and it
  refers to the reduction of social reality into
  bi-polar opposite types black vs. white, good
  vs. bad, etc.
• To portray the real world as though it were a
  black and white world eliminates all gray
  areas.
• Conservative American moralists tend to use this
  myth more frequently than others.
• The myth supports classism, racism, sexism, etc
  all of which have been historically profitable
  ideologies to unscrupulous capitalists seeking to
  maximize their private profits.
• Examples Action movies use this myth for
  dramatic effect and to create bloodlust MTV
  hints at this myth in its emphasis on youth (vs.
  old).

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Geographic Landscape Myths provide the settings
for many stories and influence audience
expectations. They are understood in context of
each other. The remote region is the rural
frontier.
Rural Frontier
Rural Middle Landscape (Mayberry)
Suburban Middle Landscape (suburbia)
Urban Frontier
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Myth of the Rural Frontier

• The myth of the rural frontier features the outer
  geographic region not yet civilized (colonized).
  It is lawless, dangerous, and savage. The Wild
  West, outer space, the deep ocean, the jungle,
  etc.
• Occupants of these regions are primitive and
  dangerous. They need to be tamed by the forces of
  civilization (and their capitalist products).
• The colonizer brings culture and civilization to
  these savages.
• Examples the Marlboro Man cigarette ad uses this
  myth (capitalism conquers the frontier),
  Hollywood westerns, movies like Jaws and Alien,
  TV shows like Lost. This myth is central to
  European/American settlement stories across the
  globe.

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Myth of the Urban Frontier

• The myth of the urban frontier portrays the city,
  especially the inner city, as a place of savagery
  and lawlessness in need of taming (by a rugged
  individualist).
• It is the urban jungle, with lots of crime.
• Those who occupy the inner city
  (disproportionately young, male, poor) are
  especially dangerous.
• Examples The Dirty Harry movies by Clint
  Eastwood, most urban action movies, many
  Hollywood movie and TV crime stories like
  Dragnet and Cops.

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Myth of the Rural Middle Landscape

• This could also be called the Myth of Mayberry.
• This is the location between the frontier and the
  suburb the small town.
• A rural frontier, once tamed, becomes a small
  town where life is simple and people are just
  plain folk.
• Here, people are childlike and innocent, like a
  Norman Rockwell painting. They are not urban
  sophisticates. There may be some likeable
  country bumpkins who lack urban sophistication.
• Emphasis is on a sense of community and
  (extended) family ties over materialism.
• Examples Andy of Mayberry, Beverly Hillbillies
  (their origins), Green Acres.

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Myth of the Suburban Middle Landscape

• This could also be called the myth of suburbia.
• The suburb is the geographic zone between the
  rural and urban frontiers.
• It is a haven or safety zone where affluence,
  materialism, and the private nuclear family are
  celebrated. Emphasis is on private materialism
  over extended community ties.
• The suburban family is private (rigidly nuclear),
  affluent, and recreational, with brand new
  hi-tech appliances to usher in the good life.
  This is the new and improved way of life.
• Examples The Cosby Show, most of the 1950s
  family-shows like Ozzie Harriet. This myth is
  parodied in TV shows like Married with Children.

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Myth of the Puritan Ethic

• God helps those who help themselves.
• You, not others, deserves a material reward, so
  get out there and get it. Your goal is material
  success.
• This myth says to look out for Number 1 - that
  your interests matter more than others
  interests.
• Like the myth of Eternal Progress, this myth is
  central to the capitalist ethos. This myth
  upholds the self-interest theme of capitalism.
• Examples TV game, sports, and reality shows
  that force people to compete against each other
  so that there can be only one winner (with
  survival of the fittest messages) TV ads
  promoting themes like you deserve a break
  today High-end car ads that promote the owner
  as better than others.

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Myth of Eternal Youth

• Youth is all that is sexy and beautiful, while
  old is ugly and obsolete.
• Your duty, especially as a woman, is to stay
  young at all costs because you are not worth as
  much when you are old.
• This theme is celebrated throughout consumer
  capitalism and contributes to modern ageism. It
  is a highly profitable message.
• Examples beauty contests, the fashion industry,
  the sex industry, media tabloids that follow
  runway models and young celebrities, TV shows
  that emphasize sexy youthful characters (ie
  Baywatch, Sex in the City, etc), womens magazine
  ads, etc.

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Myth of the Individual

• The ideal of the independent spirit who is not
  held down by social structures (laws,
  bureaucracies, conformist ideologies and values,
  marriage, etc).
• This person walks alone. They do it themselves.
• Often the individual is a rugged masculine type
  the rugged individualist who asserts their
  independence aggressively, perhaps with a fist.
• Hollywood offers working class males a means of
  power outside of the huge bureaucracies that
  undermine personal power the mythical rugged
  individualist who conquers not just the urban
  frontier but the system.
• Examples most TV and movie heroes (especially
  found in action movies and Westerns), Marlboro
  Man-type ads, James Bond movies, etc.

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Myth of Technological Utopia and the Myth of
Progress

• Problems are solved - not created - by new
  technologies.
• We must be thankful to the corporations that
  introduce new technologies. They are our saviors.
• Whatever problems exist, scientists will invent
  technological solutions to them.
• This myth is linked to the myth of progress,
  which views society as ever-changing for the
  better, thanks to industrialization and new
  technologies.
• The myth ignores the downside of technology (and
  progress) - like global warming, pollution, etc.
• Examples appliances that make life better,
  James Bond gadgets, new improved products,
  etc.

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Myth of Feminine Mystique

• Women belong in the home as wives and mothers,
  not in the workforce or in most other
  institutions.
• This emphasizes that women are the opposite of
  men. They are the weaker sex responsible for
  nurturing families and for the sexual pleasure of
  men. They are emotional more than rational.
• A common myth of patriarchal societies, this myth
  underlies sexism. (This is directly related to
  the myth of polarity).
• Examples ads that depict women in stereotypical
  roles, TV/movie depictions of women in
  stereotypical roles.

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Myth of the Masculine Mystique

• Men belong in the workforce and other
  institutions outside of family as good
  providers and protectors, not in the home.
• This myth emphasizes that men are the opposite of
  women. They are the stronger sex responsible
  for leadership and discipline. They are rational
  more than emotional.
• A common myth of patriarchal societies, this myth
  underlies sexism. (This is directly related to
  the myth of polarity).
• Examples ads that depict men in stereotypical
  roles, TV/movie depictions of men in
  stereotypical roles.

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List of these 14 Myths

• Eternal progress
• Creation myth
• Manifest destiny
• Myth of polarity
• Rural frontier
• Urban frontier
• Rural middle landscape
• Suburban middle landscape

• Puritan ethic
• Eternal youth
• Myth of the individual
• Myth of technological utopia/progress
• Myth of feminine mystique
• Myth of masculine mystique

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Six Net Effects of TV Myths

• 1. These myths promote the sanctity of the ideal
  American family as materialistic, suburban,
  private, with women and men in traditional gender
  roles.
• 2. The triumph of personal initiative over the
  bureaucratic control and inefficiency of the
  state. The rugged individualist has to take the
  law into their own hands. (Yet ultimately this
  person restores the status quo and thus affirms
  the system).

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Six Net Effects of TV Myths

• 3. Ones gain at anothers expense. The implicit
  message of many TV shows is that it is ok to be
  greedy and to want things for yourself, even if
  it is at the expense of others. After all, it is
  a jungle of survival out there.

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Six Net Effects of TV Myths

• 4. The elevated status of quiet authority in the
  hierarchy of power the celebration of the
  official expert.
• This expert is brought to us by corporate media
  and generally supports the power structure.
  Ordinary people, especially blue collar workers,
  are dumb, disruptive or confused.
• The implicit message is to listen to the voice
  of reason the corporate sanctioned so-called
  expert.

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Six Net Effects of TV Myths

• 5. The celebration of celebrity. By exploiting
  the Puritan Ethic, Eternal Youth, Eternal
  Progress, and other myths, we implicitly learn to
  follow the lifestyles of the rich and famous as
  though they are cultural heroes.
• The hero-worship of corporate media is a
  celebration of raw power regardless of its moral
  basis. The power of elites is rarely questioned.
• Endless award shows on TV give the surface
  illusion of excellence. The real message is
  celebrity worship.

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Six Net Effects of TV Myths

• 6. The conversion of history and the deflection
  of questions of the social structure to the level
  of the personal or the individual.
• Serious social issues are reduced to the level of
  the individual. We see individuals rather than
  groups grappling with crime, powerlessness, and
  other social problems.
• We also see the source of the problem as bad
  apple individuals rather than the social
  structure itself.
• When the social structure is played down, the net
  effect is to discourage class consciousness an
  awareness that the root of a problem may lie in
  the social system, and not in any particular
  individual.

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The Overall Effect of American Television Content

• The overall effect of most TV ads and programs is
  to uphold the dominant ideology of corporate
  capitalism while playing down oppositional or
  alternative ideologies.
• Oppositional ideologies appear now and then, but
  they are grass roots, localized, and sporadic
• Community based documentaries
• Public access TV (and college radio)
• Advocacy group press conferences
• Late night television and TV comedy shows like
  Jon Stewart or Steven Colbert.

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The Overall Effect of American Television Content

• It is important to note that if an alternative
  ideology or message is potentially profitable,
  corporate TV will consider showing it.
• Therefore we can expect some degree of
  contradiction in capitalist media content.
• This helps explain why 1960s rock music that was
  so critical of authority was played by (some)
  commercial media.
• However, corporate capitalist media is not
  entirely amoral. Given a choice between two shows
  of equal profit-making potential, owners and
  sponsors will select the one most consistent with
  the dominant ideology of corporate capitalism.

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What is meant by the dominant vs. oppositional
culture or ideology?

• 1. The dominant culture is corporate capitalist.
  It tries to regulate and control the TV viewers
  desires in terms of possession of material goods.
• The dominant culture legitimizes the unequal
  distribution of these material goods.
• An oppositional culture (or ideology) rejects
  materialism itself or favors the redistribution
  of material goods (including resources like
  health care, education, etc) in a more
  egalitarian way.

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What is meant by the dominant vs. oppositional
culture?

• 2. The dominant culture tries to keep the TV
  viewer outside of the objects of her desire, such
  that living the good life is outside of her
  grasp.
• The ideal citizen is a spectator a voyeur
  rather than a real participant in culture.
  Furthermore, they are not allowed to be an
  expert.
• In commercial television, the ideal viewer is an
  efficient, unthinking, consumer machine.
• An oppositional culture (ideology) points to the
  absurdity of such passivity. It tries to incite
  people to take action, to take control, to
  challenge the status quo and to achieve access to
  realistic goals rather than unrealistic
  (commercial) goals.

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What is meant by the dominant vs. oppositional
culture?

• 3. Dominant culture legitimizes the wealthy, or
  the existing status quo distribution of power and
  authority.
• An oppositional culture challenges existing
  social class arrangements and questions
  authority.
• What is the moral basis of acquisitive
  materialism (greed)?
• How did that rich person get rich?
• Is it fair that some people earn as much as they
  do while others earn so little?

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What is meant by the dominant vs. oppositional
culture?

• 4. Dominant culture tries to defuse oppositional
  culture.
• By purchasing it and repackaging it (ie
  commercial rock or commercial rap). This is the
  issue of containment or cooptation.
• By outlawing it (certain forms of leisure
  involving drugs, sex, sports, music, etc).
• Oppositional culture (ideology) tries to stay
  alive by not selling out and by resisting
  attempts to defuse it. It is a matter of cultural
  and personal integrity to keep real and be
  authentic to the original goals of the
  alternative culture.

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Himmelstein Conclusion

• In any free society, it is necessary for people
  to be exposed to both dominant and oppositional
  or alternative ideologies.
• This is what freedom and pluralism means.
• But corporate capitalist media are fundamentally
  hegemonic. They are prone to oligopoly and
  monopoly.
• Therefore, there is much censorship and
  cooptation of alternative ideologies.

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Himmelstein Conclusion

• Himmelstein argues that individual gestures of
  protest, by themselves, will not threaten the
  hegemony of corporate capitalism.
• For larger changes to occur in support of
  pluralism, individuals must be organized into
  activist organizations.
• If people organized, media policies could become
  more pluralistic and television could be an
  important resource for promoting a free and
  pluralistic society.
• As it is now, it is mostly a brainwashing tool
  that functions to opiate the masses in the
  interests of corporate capitalism.

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End