Do you agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message, i.e. that the format or logic of a medium is as important as its content and, in fact, determines what content will be broadcast through that channel? Evaluate his idea that television is a cool medium.
In my major (PR) we definitely study how important the medium is. You may have a fantastic and interesting message, but if it doesn’t hit the audience in a way they can compute (or hit them at all), then the message is completely lost. As society and technology changes and advances we always have to stay mindful of the medium. The content of the medium is the juicy piece of meat a burglar uses to distract the watchdog.
Initially I completely disagreed witht eh idea as TV being a “cool” medium. I always felt it was equivalent to the movies. But when I thought about it, TV as a cool medium actually makes sense. I have a habbit of doing HW infornt of the TV. I could watch a movie and do HW and would be okay, but the movie would probably be more stimulating and keep me from doing HW. But when I try to watch TV and do hw it never works out well. Its like to watch tv it takes a lot more effort and paying attention. And thank god for having DVR because I must hit rewind 20 times during a 30 minute show, it takes a lot of effort and concentration.
At one point in my college career, I was in PR. I remember taking a media and culture class and this was one of the topics we discussed. I really like your analogy of technology and the watch dog. I think your right when you say that sometimes an audience doesn't the message despite how beautiful the message is. Even if you feel like you are articulating it correctly, the impact it has my not affect the person.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you when you give your example of T.V. being a cool medium. It's almost like background. Sometimes when I study I turn it on because silence is too quiet for me. I know, weird.
I agree with your take on how important the production of the medium is to get the message across. There is an art in our media of using the medium to enhance and grab the audiences attention to get messages across. Good content is not enough to grabe the attention of people today.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your point that TV is a cool medium. It was diffiuclut to wrap my mind around the notiona at first but, the more you think about the term cool it makes sense. When ever Im on the phone with someone and the TV is in the room I am not a strong listener. I seem to have better communication skills when I am driving and on the phone than when I am around a televison. It's messages and production are distracting and it is difficult to keep concentration on what is more important.