Last semester in my Culture, Context and Compositon class we read an essay by Adorno and the Culture Industry.  In his many ramblings regarding the making of a movie, Adorno states that there is nothing unique in a movie.  He says that everything new or novel, such as the way a lock of hair falls across the forehead of an actess, gets studied and copied relentlessly until it eventually becomes part of the “formula.”  In this way, the culture industry reduces film, and all forms of art (except Avante Garde) to an equation that solves the problem.  The problem as Adorno sees it, is society’s endless need for commodities-even films.  

This leaves me wondering if Adorno is right about films as byproducts of capitalism.  Are there any unique movies made solely for the artistic expression, or are they simply made to satisfy the demands of a capitalistic society?  If so, wouldn’t genre films lend credence to Adorno’s viewpoints?