The Triumph of Mass Culture in “Exit through the Gift Shop: a Banksy Film”

The process of industrialisation had a huge impact on daily life, transforming it into a paradoxical, yet dynamic synthesis of perpetual changes and monotonous repetitions. In the 21st century, the culture industry, or the so-called mass culture, increased drastically due to the constant development of the world. Despite the negativities which mass culture delivers, such as low-quality products consumed daily by ordinary people, the existence of the culture industry created a peculiar branch in the arts, namely,  the underground movement of street art. The research Graffiti and Street Art: Reading, Writing and Representing the City, edited by Konstantinos Avramidis and Myrto Tsilimpounid, examines the socio-political implications and artistic value of street art and graffiti. It claims that one of the initial ideologies of street art aims to deride the commercialism of mass culture and to deconstruct the mainstream clichés created by it. However, Exit through the Gift Shop: a Banksy Film represents how street art becomes part of the culture industry. The protagonist in Banksy’s documentary – Thierry Guetta, better known by his artistic pseudonym as Mr. Brainwash, is portrayed as the one who manages to ‘infect’ the street art field with mass culture. Mr. Brainwash’s exhibition deflates street art’s essence, transforming it into a meaningless, monotonous parade of commercialism. Adorno and Horkheimer’s theory on mass culture suggests that the culture industry standardises and commodifies cultural goods, leading to a passive consumption that reinforces existing social hierarchies. This essay aims to answer the following research question: How are elements of Adorno’s and Horkheimer’s theory on mass culture reflected in Mr. Brainwash’ art? Understanding the essence and function of the culture industry is crucial to exploring its impact on street art.

The insight on mass culture, provided by Adorno and Horkheimer in Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception elaborates on the topic with a detailed approach. Let’s narrow down the culture industry’s main traits and functions. The aforementioned article states that:

The culture industry does not sublimate: it suppresses.

Dwight McDonald, a renowned literary scholar and critic, states in his research A Theory of Mass Culture, that culture industry attaches as “a parasitic… growth on High Culture” suggesting that the newly created form from this ‘parasite’ does not improve the initial product – it conceals it. According to Adorno and Horkheimer, the new subject produced by mass culture represents an “aesthetic simulation” which manages “to present fulfillment in its brokenness”. It is important to mention that mass culture’s main purpose is gaining profit. In addition, according to Dalton’s  and Kramer’s article Coarseness in U.S. Public Communication, culture industry transforms the definition of art 

from inherent quality to commodity exchange.

Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception argues that: 

Culture today is infecting everything with sameness.

It is further stated that the repetition of clichéd products disguised as new ones can be noticed even in the architectural plan of cities. The article claims that the power of the culture industry managed to leave its imprint in every corner of the world. Street art could not escape from the impact of mass culture, as well. This analysis sets the stage for understanding how street art, initially a form of resistance, can be co-opted by the same industry it seeks to critique.

The first half of Exit through the Gift Shop: a Banksy Film represents its protagonist, the middle-aged Frenchman Thierry Guetta, in a rather positive light. Guetta explores the rebellious spirit of street art by documenting all of his experiences on camera. According to Banksy, Guetta’s actions were regarded by most of the graffiti artists as helpful for the street art field due to the “shorter life span” of the pieces. However, in the second half of the movie, Guetta decides to become an artist himself and creates his pseudonym – Mr. Brainwash. A possible interpretation is that Mr. Brainwash is a reflection of Guetta’s perception of graffiti art. According to Banksy’s expectations, Mr. Brainwash’s art had to be a representation of his years spent in observance of the master artists in the field.  However, the exhibition which Thierry organizes not only proves that the man did not understand any of street art’s aims, but it also plays a pivotal part in the culture industry’s prevail over street art. According to Graffiti and Street Art: Reading, Writing and Representing the City, street art aims to 

 go against the flow of the prevailing medium

By being illegal, street art manages to incorporate further significance to its messages; besides, its public representation provides everyone with an access to it. However, by confining independent public art between four walls, Mr. Brainwash transforms it into an institutionalized public art, thus deviating from its original identity as street art. The existence of Mr. Brainwash’s  exhibition does not sublimate graffiti art – it suppresses it. Mr. Brainwash does not become a celebrity of craftsmanship due to years of practice and dedication, he manages to “miss all of that” and propose to his audience pieces which copy the style of other artists. For example, he copies the style of Andy Warhol’s famous Campbell’s Soup Can and creates a piece named Campbell’s Soup Spray Can. This example portrays that Mr. Brainwash not only lacks his own style,but it also proves that the artist himself does not respect the messages of the paintings which he copies. As Banksy states in the documentary: 

Andy Warhol made a statement by repeating famous icons until they become meaningless… but Thierry really made them meaningless.

By stating this, Banksy explains that Andy Warhol’s art aimed to mock the commerciality by making it meaningless; however, Mr. Brainwash’ pieces commercialized Andy Warhol himself and deprived Warhol’s paintings from their meaning. Mr. Brainwash’ art represents an “aesthetic simulation” which fulfills the passive consumers. Copying others’ styles also depicts the “sameness” of mass culture mentioned in Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. Additionally, Guetta’s focus on profit underscores the commodification of street art by the culture industry. 

When he is introduced in the movie, he works in an outlet selling imitations of expensive clothes: 

… So for a sum of 50$, sometime I could make 5.000$!

This character trait does not change until the end of the movie where he manages to sell his Campbell’s Soup Spray Can for approximately a million dollars. Mr. Brainwash’s exhibition remains active for two months due to Guetta’s realization that street art can be a gold mine.  Thierry’s purpose of creating an exhibition embodies culture industry’s main purpose – gaining profit from “inherent quality” of art only for a “commodity exchange”. This consistent focus on profit aligns Mr. Brainwash’s actions with the goals of mass culture.

By the end of the film Thierry speaks of himself as an artist; however according to Banksy and Shepard Fairy (a distinguished American street artist), Thierry mostly copied and reproduced other’s street art works. It seems he does not realize that, but it can be suggested that ironically his pseudonym – Mr. Brainwash, hints that by the end he managed to take advantage both of the passive consumers and of the revolutionary artists. In conclusion, Mr. Brainwash’ exhibition serves as a tragic ending to Exit through the Gift Shop: a Banksy Film, because it confirms Horkheiemer’s and Adorno’s theory that 

The whole world is passed through the filter of culture industry

Mr. Brainwash gains profit from street art, and mass culture triumphantly ‘infects’ yet another branch with ‘sameness’. This case study exemplifies how even subversive art forms are not immune to the pervasive influence of culture industry. 

Works cited: 

Primary sources

Adorno, Theodor W. Horkheimer, Max. Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, edited by Vincent B. Leitch, 2018.

Banksy, director. Exit through the Gift Shop: A Banksy Film. Paranoid Pictures, 2018.

Secondary sources

Dalton, Philip, and Eric Mark Kramer. Coarseness in U.S. Public Communication, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2012.

Graffiti and Street Art: Reading, Writing and Representing the City, edited by Konstantinos Avramidis, Myrto Tsilimpoundini, New York: Routledge, 2017.

MacDonald, Dwight. A Theory of Mass Culture, Diogenes, no. 3, 1953.