At Cambridge University, McLuhan was trained in Practical Criticism (McLuhan, 2008, 38). Practical Criticism is not theory based; it is based on performance and relies on observation and critical judgement (McLuhan, 2008, 38). Practical Criticism was introduced by IA Richards in 1929 and focussed on poem analysis where the poem is studied separate from the author and any historical context (Canning, Whitely, West, 2017). Ultimately, Richards was interesting in how readers experience poems, or the ‘reader response’ (Canning, Whitely, West, 2017).
Causality was an important concept for McLuhan. From a young age was convinced of causes for human affairs and considered official versions of history as ‘not helpful’ (Stahlman, 2011, 5). He argued …show more content…
When McLuhan was writing about media and environments, he found the aphoristic style preferable to conventional explanation. For McLuhan, aphorisms coax experience into revealing patterns (McLuhan, 2008, 35). This worked hand in hand, then, with the practical criticism approach which focused on the experience of the reader. Ultimately, the probing style served to get at the heart of things (McLuhan, 2008, 39.) This certainly seems to resonate, considering McLuhan’s most poignant aphorism ‘The medium is the message’ is still widely used today in discussions of communication theory. In fact, Understanding Media could be considered one of McLuhan’s biggest probe (Mullen, 2006).
Marshall McLuhan’s Model of Media: The following analysis of McLuhan’s model of media will focus on two related and interdependent concepts. The first is McLuhan’s actual conception of media and media technology and how these create environments. Then, we will explore McLuhan’s emphasis on the form of the medium and how the medium itself produces meaning of a message rather than content.
Media Extends the …show more content…
More specifically, media extends an individual’s capabilities and attributes (Fishman, 2006, 57). A medium takes a technological form and extends the self in the same way that the wheel extends the leg or glasses extend the eye (Adler, Rodman, Sevigny, 2015, 16) . The media extend our natural senses, allowing one to hear better, to see better (Sturken & Cartwright, 1957, 243). This conception of media is not passive. Humans both produce and are produced by their interactions with technology (Mullen, 2006). McLuhan (1964) explained that ‘our human senses, of which all media are extensions…configure the awareness and experience of each one us’ (21). Media technology not only extends one or more our senses outside us into the social world our extended faculties also constitute a single field of experience (McLuhan&Zingrone, 1995, 101,
Causality was an important concept for McLuhan. From a young age was convinced of causes for human affairs and considered official versions of history as ‘not helpful’ (Stahlman, 2011, 5). He argued …show more content…
When McLuhan was writing about media and environments, he found the aphoristic style preferable to conventional explanation. For McLuhan, aphorisms coax experience into revealing patterns (McLuhan, 2008, 35). This worked hand in hand, then, with the practical criticism approach which focused on the experience of the reader. Ultimately, the probing style served to get at the heart of things (McLuhan, 2008, 39.) This certainly seems to resonate, considering McLuhan’s most poignant aphorism ‘The medium is the message’ is still widely used today in discussions of communication theory. In fact, Understanding Media could be considered one of McLuhan’s biggest probe (Mullen, 2006).
Marshall McLuhan’s Model of Media: The following analysis of McLuhan’s model of media will focus on two related and interdependent concepts. The first is McLuhan’s actual conception of media and media technology and how these create environments. Then, we will explore McLuhan’s emphasis on the form of the medium and how the medium itself produces meaning of a message rather than content.
Media Extends the …show more content…
More specifically, media extends an individual’s capabilities and attributes (Fishman, 2006, 57). A medium takes a technological form and extends the self in the same way that the wheel extends the leg or glasses extend the eye (Adler, Rodman, Sevigny, 2015, 16) . The media extend our natural senses, allowing one to hear better, to see better (Sturken & Cartwright, 1957, 243). This conception of media is not passive. Humans both produce and are produced by their interactions with technology (Mullen, 2006). McLuhan (1964) explained that ‘our human senses, of which all media are extensions…configure the awareness and experience of each one us’ (21). Media technology not only extends one or more our senses outside us into the social world our extended faculties also constitute a single field of experience (McLuhan&Zingrone, 1995, 101,