"Even if you are a reader of Kafka or Dostoyevsky, when you watch a cop show or a detective series, you do so in expectation of the stereotyped format and would be annoyed to find the video narrative making 'high cultural' demands on you".
This statement in Jameson's essay struck a chord in my understanding of mass media as I can directly relate to it, despite the fact that it was written over 25 years ago. Jameson is talking about commodity production in this section, and how there are existing criteria that confine mass media that an artist must follow in order to prosper. Mass media is not valued for what it means but what it can be exchanged for, which I though particularly interesting to think about in terms of our current film industry, where 'box office smashes' are the ultimate goal. These spectacular feature films, such as the current Avengers series, are produced to be sold and then to be purchased, a process that is repeated to give the same sense of satisfaction to its consumer. I also thought it was relevant to think about the reproductions of older movies that seem to be prevalent this year (Jurassic World, Mad Max, Star Wars) which are producing the same or similar plot lines using modern technical developments in order to produce a spectacle for consumption.
Jameson is working to deconstruct this ideological phenomenon of consumer and producer, showing how the economic values of capitalism have influence in mass media. He understands mass media systems as reproductions of established thematic materials where the images are abstracted from meaning (reification). I agree that we can no longer define mass media by its relation to 'high culture' as the means by which these types of films are produced are rapidly changing for a rapidly changing audience.
Your claim that mass media is a commodity being produced to be bought and sold for consumption is a very interesting point. Jameson holds that mass media is a form of low culture or popular culture in society that has been watered down and lost great amounts of meaning within society. What do you think about this dichotomy Jameson proposes in his work between high culture and low culture? Additionally, How does Jameson claim that these forms of culture are being reproduced within society? Why doesn't society simply reject a lower form of culture if it is inferior to high culture?
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