Media Matters
Media Matters
Having read Mediaanthropology´s1 post, I would like to utter my lonesome inspirations. These impacts derive from acting work, scientific research and fascination for media as a whole. Since I was small, I have tried to “mediate“ myself, but what has brought me to it? For the first time in my life I attempt to analyze the “whatness of allhorse“ – media, emotions, beliefs, film, theater, art and aesthetics in relation to socializing and culture. A big word it is, culture, and I take in the symbolic way: behind all this (and much more) stands the human being, in the Globe, around the globe and global village – the Cabled Globe2 is not yet born.
1. Media rules
Firstly, I take the laws of intellectual property for known and granted. Intellectual property does not ask for pole position, but also includes peoples´ society intellectual possessions. Some people like me do publish drafts and concepts via Inet, some use it for explicitly offering valuable text to a wider audience, who might not buy books, CDs or other. Therefore, text production reaches a level of attention, that probably will deliver more information to scholars, and not only to them. To me the questions are: What is media? How do we charge media for responsibility? So, what does Mediaanthropology mean by standardization? If standardization is the process of creating a standard, and a standard is something against which something else is tested or measured, which way will media take to base comparison? Who will have the ability, power and possibility to influence communication via media?
Referring to Werner Wolf´s book The Media, We Are Ourselves, I would like to mention his statement about hybridization of communication related to the automatization of perception: Multiple exposures of human reality function through media by presentation and representation. Wolf expressed3, that Paul Virilio´s apocalyptic concept of Visionik characterized a state of non – participation in using media day – by – day. A kind of lost perception turns ourselves into printers, plotters and screens concerning the automatic media sets. This would lead to increasing individual doubt. Wolf additionally observed a lack of belief in human beings´ subjectivity to further our reliance in media products. In Wolf´s theory the coincidence is fatal: Once we started to believe the media were the message, we began to rely upon media.
I can understand very well, that integrative media didactics thematically must include the technological, rational, sensory and emotional clues of media. Wolf´s model can easily be improved and broadened: He differs personal media from media of action and media of things. Personal media are mime, body movement & gestures, motion, voice, territorial behaviour, looks and body language. Media of action are theater, puppet shows, role models, pantomime, dance, techniques of imagination, performance, installations and rituals. Media of things are: on the one hand color, objets trouves, ready – mades, design products and plastic materials form the group of media of materials, on the other hand technological media signify mirrors, phones, radio, computer communication, holography, exhibitions, environment, installations, photography, TV, video, film, prints (magazines, books, newspapers), posters, comics, commercial and mass media within media conglomerates4.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
1 Medienanthropology Blog
2 Vision fiction by me: Give them cables!, also called Cable Fiction, furthermore, cables might also transport water.
3 PP. 71 – 74
4 PP. 26 – 39
2. Train Media
What is the deal? Somebody on TV explains constantly. If we were the media, media would pronounce more communication and variety. If love was the object, common sense would concern the public. I presume, the Inet is one of the places, where we – Orgas5 – can access international communications in case of Cable Fiction.
“Kayapo notions of mimesis and representation are evident in dramatic skits performed as integral parts of rituals dealing with their social and political interaction with Western society.” (Turner 2002: 84)
“An ethnographic study of Hmong media needs to take account of the synergistic relation between community formation and what I call transnational subjectification. The way people understand who they are and how they belong is never anterior to, indeed is inseparable from, the kinds of media they consume. Moreover, such understanding is not static but is subject to ongoing revision in the course of social and discursive life.“ (Schein 2002: 230)
“From a Hindi filmmaker´s point of view, identification is not dependent upon an aesthetic of social realism or even a realistic mise – en – scene (which could even impede pleasure according to Akhtar [Author´s note: Javed Akthar is a successful screenwriter, lyricist and poet]), but more dependent on whether the portrayal of the joys, sorrows, and dilemmas faced by the characters are able to resonate with – rather than replicate – audiences´ own experience.“ (Ganti 2002: 285)
“They were there to seek medical assistance, to charge spouses with domestic violence, to obtain legal assistance, to call for lost children and family members, to warn people about scams, to denounce government policies, and of course, to thank hosts for their previous assistance.“ (Himpele 2002: 304)
“Returning to the multiple worlds invoked earlier, I argue that this Kazakhstani example offers an intriguing instance in which a Second World society, now realizing itself as a Fourth World nation, is given a First World genred medium that it in turn transforms itself into an indigenized product.“ (Mandel 2002: 224)6
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
5 Referring to AI – the movie: Human beings´ concept of themselves, in opposition to Mechas – commonly known as Cyborgs
6 All citations of Media Worlds, please see bibliography
3. Mediography
3.1. Bibliography
Ganti, Tejaswini: “And Yet My Heart Is Still Indian“, In: Ginsburg Faye D., Abu – Lughod, Lila & Larkin, Brian (Eds.): Media Worlds. 2002, USA: University of California Press, PP. 281 – 300
Himpele, Jeff D.: Arrival Scenes, In: Ginsburg Faye D., Abu – Lughod, Lila & Larkin, Brian (Eds.): Media Worlds. 2002, USA: University of California Press, PP. 301 – 316
Mandel, Ruth: A Marshall Plan Of The Mind, In: Ginsburg Faye D., Abu – Lughod, Lila & Larkin, Brian (Eds.): Media Worlds. 2002, USA: University of California Press, PP. 211 – 228
Schein, Louisa: Mapping Hmong Media in Diasporic Space, In: Ginsburg Faye D., Abu – Lughod, Lila & Larkin, Brian (Eds.): Media Worlds. 2002, USA: University of California Press, PP. 229 – 244
Turner, Terence: Representation, Politics, and Cultural Imagination in Indigenous Video: General Points and Kayapo Examples, In: Ginsburg Faye D., Abu – Lughod, Lila & Larkin, Brian (Eds.): Media Worlds. 2002, USA: University of California Press, PP. 75 – 89
Wolf, Werner: Die Medien, das sind wir selbst
1989 Hamburg: RoRoRo
3.2. DVD
Spielberg, Steven: AI
2001 / 2002 USA: Dreamworks
3.3. Internet
1 Mediaanthropology: http://medienanthropology.blogspot.com/ 2005-05-15 5:59:51 PM [medium-is-message.html 2005/5/6 12:59 PM]
2 SybAmbLog: http://sybamb.blogspot.com/ 2005-05-17 4:06:11 PM
Having read Mediaanthropology´s1 post, I would like to utter my lonesome inspirations. These impacts derive from acting work, scientific research and fascination for media as a whole. Since I was small, I have tried to “mediate“ myself, but what has brought me to it? For the first time in my life I attempt to analyze the “whatness of allhorse“ – media, emotions, beliefs, film, theater, art and aesthetics in relation to socializing and culture. A big word it is, culture, and I take in the symbolic way: behind all this (and much more) stands the human being, in the Globe, around the globe and global village – the Cabled Globe2 is not yet born.
1. Media rules
Firstly, I take the laws of intellectual property for known and granted. Intellectual property does not ask for pole position, but also includes peoples´ society intellectual possessions. Some people like me do publish drafts and concepts via Inet, some use it for explicitly offering valuable text to a wider audience, who might not buy books, CDs or other. Therefore, text production reaches a level of attention, that probably will deliver more information to scholars, and not only to them. To me the questions are: What is media? How do we charge media for responsibility? So, what does Mediaanthropology mean by standardization? If standardization is the process of creating a standard, and a standard is something against which something else is tested or measured, which way will media take to base comparison? Who will have the ability, power and possibility to influence communication via media?
Referring to Werner Wolf´s book The Media, We Are Ourselves, I would like to mention his statement about hybridization of communication related to the automatization of perception: Multiple exposures of human reality function through media by presentation and representation. Wolf expressed3, that Paul Virilio´s apocalyptic concept of Visionik characterized a state of non – participation in using media day – by – day. A kind of lost perception turns ourselves into printers, plotters and screens concerning the automatic media sets. This would lead to increasing individual doubt. Wolf additionally observed a lack of belief in human beings´ subjectivity to further our reliance in media products. In Wolf´s theory the coincidence is fatal: Once we started to believe the media were the message, we began to rely upon media.
I can understand very well, that integrative media didactics thematically must include the technological, rational, sensory and emotional clues of media. Wolf´s model can easily be improved and broadened: He differs personal media from media of action and media of things. Personal media are mime, body movement & gestures, motion, voice, territorial behaviour, looks and body language. Media of action are theater, puppet shows, role models, pantomime, dance, techniques of imagination, performance, installations and rituals. Media of things are: on the one hand color, objets trouves, ready – mades, design products and plastic materials form the group of media of materials, on the other hand technological media signify mirrors, phones, radio, computer communication, holography, exhibitions, environment, installations, photography, TV, video, film, prints (magazines, books, newspapers), posters, comics, commercial and mass media within media conglomerates4.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
1 Medienanthropology Blog
2 Vision fiction by me: Give them cables!, also called Cable Fiction, furthermore, cables might also transport water.
3 PP. 71 – 74
4 PP. 26 – 39
2. Train Media
What is the deal? Somebody on TV explains constantly. If we were the media, media would pronounce more communication and variety. If love was the object, common sense would concern the public. I presume, the Inet is one of the places, where we – Orgas5 – can access international communications in case of Cable Fiction.
“Kayapo notions of mimesis and representation are evident in dramatic skits performed as integral parts of rituals dealing with their social and political interaction with Western society.” (Turner 2002: 84)
“An ethnographic study of Hmong media needs to take account of the synergistic relation between community formation and what I call transnational subjectification. The way people understand who they are and how they belong is never anterior to, indeed is inseparable from, the kinds of media they consume. Moreover, such understanding is not static but is subject to ongoing revision in the course of social and discursive life.“ (Schein 2002: 230)
“From a Hindi filmmaker´s point of view, identification is not dependent upon an aesthetic of social realism or even a realistic mise – en – scene (which could even impede pleasure according to Akhtar [Author´s note: Javed Akthar is a successful screenwriter, lyricist and poet]), but more dependent on whether the portrayal of the joys, sorrows, and dilemmas faced by the characters are able to resonate with – rather than replicate – audiences´ own experience.“ (Ganti 2002: 285)
“They were there to seek medical assistance, to charge spouses with domestic violence, to obtain legal assistance, to call for lost children and family members, to warn people about scams, to denounce government policies, and of course, to thank hosts for their previous assistance.“ (Himpele 2002: 304)
“Returning to the multiple worlds invoked earlier, I argue that this Kazakhstani example offers an intriguing instance in which a Second World society, now realizing itself as a Fourth World nation, is given a First World genred medium that it in turn transforms itself into an indigenized product.“ (Mandel 2002: 224)6
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
5 Referring to AI – the movie: Human beings´ concept of themselves, in opposition to Mechas – commonly known as Cyborgs
6 All citations of Media Worlds, please see bibliography
3. Mediography
3.1. Bibliography
Ganti, Tejaswini: “And Yet My Heart Is Still Indian“, In: Ginsburg Faye D., Abu – Lughod, Lila & Larkin, Brian (Eds.): Media Worlds. 2002, USA: University of California Press, PP. 281 – 300
Himpele, Jeff D.: Arrival Scenes, In: Ginsburg Faye D., Abu – Lughod, Lila & Larkin, Brian (Eds.): Media Worlds. 2002, USA: University of California Press, PP. 301 – 316
Mandel, Ruth: A Marshall Plan Of The Mind, In: Ginsburg Faye D., Abu – Lughod, Lila & Larkin, Brian (Eds.): Media Worlds. 2002, USA: University of California Press, PP. 211 – 228
Schein, Louisa: Mapping Hmong Media in Diasporic Space, In: Ginsburg Faye D., Abu – Lughod, Lila & Larkin, Brian (Eds.): Media Worlds. 2002, USA: University of California Press, PP. 229 – 244
Turner, Terence: Representation, Politics, and Cultural Imagination in Indigenous Video: General Points and Kayapo Examples, In: Ginsburg Faye D., Abu – Lughod, Lila & Larkin, Brian (Eds.): Media Worlds. 2002, USA: University of California Press, PP. 75 – 89
Wolf, Werner: Die Medien, das sind wir selbst
1989 Hamburg: RoRoRo
3.2. DVD
Spielberg, Steven: AI
2001 / 2002 USA: Dreamworks
3.3. Internet
1 Mediaanthropology: http://medienanthropology.blogspot.com/ 2005-05-15 5:59:51 PM [medium-is-message.html 2005/5/6 12:59 PM]
2 SybAmbLog: http://sybamb.blogspot.com/ 2005-05-17 4:06:11 PM
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