Essay 1, 17.9.14

There are clearly many of styles for working with in and controlling media. Many of which are sharply defined brands of editing and presenting data and history. Unlike the common public opinion of creative work, many of the media methods described in the text are very rigid, and mechanical.

Two lines given in separate media methods that I found to ring very true, yet upsetting can be found in Sovereign Media, and the next in Old Media.  I am taking both lines out of the context of their general description for each method, because, as the text claims, deconstructing writing is the best method for understanding, or applying the ideas to the individual.  In Sovereign Media, the author states : "To call a halt to crippling indifference, a media diet is prescribed". In some ways, this is a very lovely sentiment. Suggesting that those who feel isolated by their reluctancy to engage with the chaos of the world will be provided a window or outlet: this brand of media; which will some how allow them to be engaged with what may overwhelm them.  On another spectrum of media consumers, Old Media states: "only missed connections produce a spark." Here, the method is to produce a reaction from those who are more likely to respond to something that sharply clashes with that what they already believe to be true, or at least what they would like to believe is a more righteous way of thinking.  And with just these two lines, I imagine the media has the power to totally manipulate those who are weak and isolated, and to enrage those who are obsessed or engaged.  As I continue reading, I do not find a more suitable method of viewing or engaging with the media until we reach Marshall McLuhan's suggestions on how to digest the media.

"Industrial man is not unlike the turtle that is quite blind to the beauty of the shell he has grown on his back".  Instead of looking at the media as a grand manipulator or the uniter of those isolated by indifference to the chaos of the world, McLuhan has described the media as a work of art, with hidden symbols and insights into the madness and abundance which will reward the viewer with something not unlike appreciation of nature. He suggests media is a work of art, and we should view it as something more abstract, and something that is not simply intended to relay the actual events of the days passed, but as a "special artifact for enhancing human perception". To look at media in this way, a large sample of work, such as a media archive would yield a more telling picture as opposed to an isolated era or media group.  Its easier, and more interesting to observe an accumulation of media in the form of a narrative or a satire than to actually study our cultural history. Everything someone makes is a object crafted by all the ideas and components of that history, and with McLuhan's ideas in mind, observing these from a few steps back, we are provided with an abstract and beautiful view of our collective of chaos.