Media Studies: Key Thinkers and Approaches Week 2: Medium Theory The Gutenberg Press (1436-1440)

First Assignment: Academic Writing Exercise The goal of the assignment is to synthesize the readings in a given week of the class (5 weeks, up to reading week) and to offer your interpretation of the texts. You may compare and contrast the themes developed by the authors of your chosen week; highlight a key concept or approach present in the texts; apply the readings to a contemporary example of your choice; or consider how the topic of your chosen week relates to other approaches or theories explored in the class (just be careful not to spread yourself too thinly by covering too much ground). Be sure to develop a clear research focus and thesis or central argument.

First Assignment: Academic Writing Exercise You are not required to do research beyond the class material for the paper, but are welcome to use additional sources when appropriate. You are expected to use proper academic citation (Harvard style) when referencing your sources (including the texts from our class). Your papers should be in academic essay format with a strong introduction, clearly structured body paragraphs in which you develop your argument, and a conclusion. A 1-3-1 essay format is recommended.

Writing a 1-3-1 essay (a suggested essay structure for a short paper) 1 - The introduction: In the first section of your essay provide your thesis statement (what is the overall argument of your essay) and briefly describe what your three supporting arguments will be. 3 - The three supporting arguments: In the next three sections of the essay, you will develop your thesis (main argument) by way of three supporting arguments that explore the relevant areas or examples involved in your topic. The three arguments should be clearly distinguished from each other and link together to form a strong, cohesive overall argument. 1 - The conclusion: In the final section of the essay you should restate your thesis statement, briefly describe the three supportive arguments you have made, and conclude with a sentence or two that sums up the overall argument you have been trying to make. Note: no new arguments should appear in your conclusion.

Media or Medium Theory Examines the particular qualities of a media technology. Considers how media technologies may bring about different forms of human and social organization. May also theorize how particular media technologies affect sense perception and re-organize our experience and understanding of space and time, individually and socially. Interested in the form and properties of media technologies rather than any specific content they might contain.

“The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” Walter Benjamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” Written in 1936 in Paris while exiled from Germany. Written in the shadow of Hitler’s rise to power in Germany. Also influenced by the rise of mass communications in Weimar Germany between the wars and by Benjamin’s trips to Moscow to see first hand the socialist society being formed in the Soviet Union. Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” Interested in how changes to the base/substructure of European society (economy, industrialization) are being reflected in the superstructure (the sphere of art, culture and ideology). Age of Mechanical Reproduction: invention of photography (1825) and film (1888). How does this change the nature and experience of art? In theory art has always been reproducible. “Around 1900 technical reproduction had reached a standard that…permitted it to reproduce all transmitted works of art and thus to cause the most profound change in their impact upon the public…”

Walter Benjamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” The reproduction of art extends the reach of the work and brings it into new situations or locations of reception (into the private studio or the drawing room). It also destroys the idea that a work has a singular presence in time and space; it destroys the works unique existence and history. It destroys the AURA of the work of art - the source of its claim to authority and authenticity. Mechanical reproduction brings the art work “closer” spatially and humanly, destroying the distance on which aura depends.

Walter Benjamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” The aura of a work of art is based on its embeddedness in tradition and ritual - its “cult value.” The mechanically reproduced work of art emphasizes “exhibition value” - its “being on view.” Function of art moves from ritual to politics. Mechanical reproduction transforms human sense perception and “humanity’s entire mode of existence.” It “equalizes” everything by destroying it’s distinct difference as a discrete object.

“The Medium is the Message” Marshall McLuhan “The Medium is the Message” Canadian literary scholar and media theorist (1911-1980). Marshall McLuhan

Marshall McLuhan “The Medium is the Message” Conventional media critics falsely prioritize the content of media - they claim “it is how they are used that counts.” Fail to recognize that different media forms prioritize and extend specific human senses, they alter sense ratios and patterns of perception, often at an unconscious level. “The serious artist is the only person able to encounter technology with impunity, just because he is an expert aware of the changes in sense perception.”

Marshall McLuhan Views media forms as extensions of ‘man.’ Print extends the eyes; the radio extends the ear; electrical media extend the nervous system. All media have a particular “grammar” and this what we must study. The change of scale or pace or pattern that they introduce into human affairs. Print culture: leads to a sequential, mechanical, isolated and fragmented mode of perception and interaction. Follows the typographic principles of uniformity, continuity and linearity. Print culture: emphasizes individualism and nationalism.

Marshall McLuhan Electrical media: emphasizes instantaneous communication, “the all at once,” integration and immersion, the total field rather than specialized segments. Leads to a “re-tribalization of man,” a return to the communal orientation of oral cultures, “the global village.”

Marshall McLuhan Potential criticism of McLuhan’s viewpoint? The charge of “technological determinism” - the claim that McLuhan over-emphasises the essential and pre-determined characteristics of media technologies and their necessary social impact. A lack of consideration of the social and cultural construction of media technologies and their functions - minimizes the role of human agency in determining how media is used.