Media, mediation... it keeps me busy.
The other day I realised how much I enjoy living in the city center of Utrecht. I love the fact that I can go practically everywhere by foot. It's so relaxing to 'walk down the lane with a happy refrain', it makes me feel so alive and so in touch with my surroundings. Cycling, catching a bus and driving... they all, in different degrees, require me to pay attention, to traffic, to the very object that is carrying me.
Back to media. McLuhan has this thesis called the 'extension thesis', also described as 'extending the sensorium'. He sees media as extensions of peoples' fysical properties. E.g. the camera as an extension of the eye, a telephone as an extension of the ear, but also a hammer as extension of the human hand and a wheel as an extension of the foot. This leads us to conclude that our lifes are incredibly mediated. Just think of producing (machines as opposed to craftmanship, how much I envy people who work with their hands), gardening (my mom loves gardening; the best thing she finds is just sticking her bare hands into fertile soil), not to mention communicating, I will probably write some more on that later. Back to my simple example of walking:
Walking can be considered 'unmediated' transport. There's no medium involved, there's but the raw awareness of one step after another, my fysical and mental self completely capable to cope with the speed at which I move, observe and process observations. And I can't quite put it in words, but I love it. It makes me feel so on top of things, so authentic, so meant to be, so free, so... human. Even more so, shoes can be considered media... and again I observe my own experience (and those of other people) walking on bare foot: It's heaven, it's what we really want. Just listen to Thomas Dybdahl (great Norwegian singer-song writer): 'I need dirt and twigs that break beneath my feet.' And the dutch band Blof: 'en de grond kust zacht mijn voeten, zij is met mij elke stap' and 'op blote voeten loop ik langzaam door'.
The more I think about it, the more I long for a largely unmediated existence, for unmediated transport, communication, production. At the very least I want to be conscious of this and use those media that allow me to remain close to my fysical existence. Or am I just being romantic here?
28 februari 2009
23 februari 2009
Mirrors
Timidly I reintroduce myself to the so-called blogosphere...
I've been taking classes in the theory of new media, which has its interesting moments I must admit. So I'm writing an essay on the YouTube community, I might upload a bit of that later.
Anyway, we discussed McLuhan and his approach to media. To sum it up: he basically says that the influence of a medium is not so much determined by its content but by its form. This triggered an entire philosophical process in my mind, let me see if I can put it into words.
The other day I looked into my mirror, which could probably be considered a medium by McLuhan's standards, and for a second I reflected on the influence of mirrors on our society, our psyche, maybe even our spirituality. One very helpful way of thinking about this is to imagine a society without mirrors. Only a few hundred years back mirrors wouldn't have been prevalent at all, which simply means that people would very likely not know what they looked like, or even how other people saw them. At least it would mean that people would not be confronted with themselfes all the time. So having thought that (and having fixed my hair) I walked down the street and for the first time I realised just how many objects reflect our image. Just think of windows, cars and wet road surfaces. And then there are recorded reflections such as through (CCTV) video camera's and photography. And to take it even further: what about social networks like facebook and hyves. How odd to be constantly exposed to your own personality, your pictures, the things you 'said' (i.e. write) to other people. Then YouTube, recording your own vlog which you'll probably see yourself a few times.
Now, here is my hypothesis: could it be that the 'mirrordness' of our society has let to a hyper-self awareness? Could it be that the constant confrontation with ourselfes resulted in a society of narcism and super self consciousness? Are we now, more than ever, constructs of social awareness? And aren't we therefore miles away from characteristics such as authenticity and autonomy? Is this the reason why so few people can liberate themselfes from the expectations and find and follow their true passion with zeal? Could it be that generation I is the product of decades of confrontation with self?
Narcissus walked a couple miles to find himself a lake which reflected enough for a blurred image of self (clear enough for him to fall in love with). We cannot turn our heads without seeing our reflection somewhere... maybe all it did was create a market for styling products and make up... but maybe, just maybe... mirrors created society?
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