Frankfurt School’s Critical Theory and a Critique of Video Games as Popular Culture Products

Year 2022, Volume: 9 Issue: 1, 1 - 17, 31.01.2022

Aykut Sığın

https://doi.org/10.17680/erciyesiletisim.1030093

Abstract

Frankfurt School’s critical theory provides a framework to study mass media. In Dialectic of Enlightenment, Adorno and Horkheimer, two of the most prominent theorists of the School, coined the term “culture industry” to discuss the state of the entertainment sector. However, the critical theorists of the Frankfurt School were either dead or they simply did not analyze the case of video games when the medium became an important agent both in social and economic terms. The main argument of this paper is that, as an inseparable part of the entertainment sector of today’s capitalist societies, video games are eligible for an analysis as products of the culture industry. It is argued in the study that the fantasy worlds of video games divert people’s attention away from the problems of capitalist societies. Further, the commodities are claimed to be getting increasingly standardized and are aimed at providing easy pleasures to consumers. Besides, a discussion of video games is carried out in accordance with the view that the video games of today seem to cater more to casual gamers than “serious” gamers, transpiring a dichotomy akin to that of high culture versus low culture.

Keywords

Communication Studies, Frankfurt School, Critical Theory, Culture Industry, Video Games, Popular Culture Products

Frankfurt Okulu’nun Eleştirel Teorisi ve Popüler Kültür Ürünleri Olarak Bilgisayar Oyunlarının Bir Eleştirisi

Abstract

Frankfurt Okulu’nun eleştirel teorisi, kitle iletişim araçlarını incelemek için bir çerçeve sunmuştur. Okul’un önde gelen teorisyenlerinden Adorno ve Horkheimer Aydınlanmanın Diyalektiği’nde eğlence sektörünün durumunu tartışmak için “kültür endüstrisi” kavramını kullanmışlardır. Bununla birlikte, bilgisayar oyunları hem sosyal hem de ekonomik açıdan önemli medya ürünleri hâline geldiğinde Frankfurt Okulu’nun eleştirel teorisyenleri ya ölmüş ya da bu medya ürünlerini analiz etmeme yolunu tercih etmişlerdir. Bu makalenin temel argümanı, günümüz kapitalist toplumlarındaki eğlence sektörünün ayrılmaz bir parçası olan bilgisayar oyunlarının kültür endüstrisi ürünleri olarak ele alınmaya uygun olduğu yönündedir. Buradan hareketle, mevcut çalışmada bilgisayar oyunlarındaki fantezi dünyalarının insanların dikkatini, kapitalist toplumların sorunlarından uzaklaştırdığı öne sürülmektedir. Ayrıca, bu ürünlerin giderek daha standart hâle geldiği ve tüketicilere basit zevkler sağlamayı hedeflediği de çalışmanın iddiaları arasındadır. Günümüzün bilgisayar oyunlarının “ciddi” oyunculardan çok sıradan oyunculara hitap ediyor gibi görünmesinin, “yüksek kültüre karşı alçak kültür” benzeri bir dikotomiyi ortaya koyduğu düşünülmekte ve bilgisayar oyunlarının bu bağlamda bir tartışması yürütülmektedir.

Keywords

İletişim Çalışmaları, Frankfurt Okulu, Eleştirel Teori, Kültür Endüstrisi, Bilgisayar Oyunları, Popüler Kültür Ürünleri

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