CCT 300 Spring 2006 Class 4: Media and Essential Form: Applications

Previously… Mills - ideal type constructions of public/mass society (and implications on media form) Manovich - ideal type construction of “new” media (and implications on society)

Other approaches Grand theory - McLuhan (via Hempell) Structural functionalism - Parsons/Merton (via Breed) Post-structuralist - Derrida, Foucault, others (via Abbott)

Grand Theory Analytical approach that envelops all possible media forms, representing them under universal principles Positive: explains a large intellectual space in succinct and elegant manner Negative: analysis of specific instances can be weak or partial

McLuhan - Laws of Media Universal dynamic of media change Represented as tetrad - four intersecting concomitant influences Grouped into two forces - ground (historical/cultural convention) and figure (emergent forces/media)

Four Forces Enhancement (positive change, amplification) Retrieval (recovery of past forces) Reversal (new or resurgent challenges jeopardizing new media) Obsolescence (erosion of older values/forces)

Structural Functionalism Social systems theory examining how action contributes to the overall structure and form social system Talcott Parsons - unifying, positive frame, conformity of means and goals Robert Merton - a) the role of conflict in functionalism and b) manifest and latent functions (and dysfunctions)

Media Policy Analysis of media ownership and control often too basic - rarely is policy explicitly defined or manifestly controlled But - media corporations tend to conform to a given policy direction anyway - why?

Reasons to Conform Perceived sanction - fear of reassignment/de facto demotion Esteem for authority - earnest respect for boss - potential benefits in mobility Cohesion and perks - staffers find job and colleagues intrinsically interesting Rewards for getting (and creating) news - absence of reflection on how and why? Absence of collective resistance

Deviance and Change Unclear norms - opportunity to redefine unstated rules Superior research/facts - story too good to ignore Quasi-editorial role - e.g., investigative reporting Appeal to competition - planting/leaking stories elsewhere Star status - implicit power of recognized journalists

Post-structuralism Deconstruction of system into codes, syntax, signs (e.g., semiotic analysis) Analysis of how the denotative and connotative meanings contribute to power dynamics (e.g., Foucault) Often hard to reintegrate, though - interesting observations but to what point?

Flatland Live in two dimensions - and a satire on Victorian era classism and sexism Life regulated by symbols and their interpretation Life of narrator (A. Square) changed by attempt to explain life to one- dimensional world, and by visit to Spaceland (e.g., us…)

Class Structure More sides the better - “circles” (high- sided polygons) were leaders Middle/upper - step up by generation Lower classes - triangles (equilateral to isoceles) Women - powerful and feared, deliberately suppressed Irregulars - destroyed

Perception and Colour Perception and distinction among classes Colour, the Colour Revolt and the Universal Colour Bill - equality for classes and women through common perception (and how it failed…)

Dimension Confusion, or, What does this have to do with media, anyway? A visitor from Spaceland - a sudden realization of a third dimension (and its effects on one’s perception of two) Media examples - transcending (virtual) time and space - virtual may carry similar liberating (or seditious) effects (Innis/McLuhan)

Wiki Integration Does the tetrad metaphor explain the emergence and historical relevance of the medium? How so? What actions contribution to the structure and function of the medium? What dysfunctions may lead to change in the medium?

Integration (2) Are relations of power or common use defined or constrained symbolically? How so? Does the medium change previously held notions of space and time? How so and to what effect?

Next Class Culture jamming (and its discontents) Film analysis on Network due