Television as Communication Television as Culture COMN 3316

Television as Communication Television as Culture COMN 3316 Jan 21, 2011

Agenda Announcement Television as cultural reproduction III ◦ Finish lecture ◦ Movies + Exercise ◦ Readings

Douglas Copland Prophetic Mc. Luhan – Douglas Coupland in Conversation with B. W. Powe. Jan 28, 2011, 4 pm-6 pm. Douglas Coupland in conversation with B. W. Powe on Coupland's new biography of Marshall Mc. Luhan. Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X and Microserfs, will be speaking on his new biography of Marshall Mc. Luhan. The event will be part of the launch of Marshall Mc. Luhan centenary celebrations that will be taking place throughout Canada, the United States and Europe.

Readings

Readings Train 48?

Readings from last week Programming Reality is the title of the book both essays are from: In view of our lecture today and video seen in last two weeks: What do you think this means? (How does this connect to cultural reproduction? )

Returning to finish last weeks lecture: Marx Last weeks lecture Raymond Williams Production and reproduction: ◦ In speaking of Raymond Williams ◦ “In order to see what he has accomplished in his work, one would have to compare it to, say, the cultural criticism of Georg Lukacs, the analysis of music of Theodor Adorno, or the literary investigations of Lucien Goldmann. ” (Television and Cultural Reproduction: Essay Review: Michael W. Apple and Jeffrey D. Lukowsky. Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 12, No. 4, Oct. 1978)

Returning to finish last weeks lecture: Marx ◦ In speaking of Raymond Williams ◦ “In order to see what he has accomplished in his work, one would have to compare it to, say, the cultural criticism of Georg Lukacs, the analysis of music of Theodor Adorno, or the literary investigations of Lucien Goldmann. ” (Television and Cultural Reproduction: Essay Review: Michael W. Apple and Jeffrey D. Lukowsky. Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 12, No. 4, Oct. 1978) We will look at these thinkers very briefly – just to understand the uses Raymond Williams makes of them. These thinkers work will be very summarized and simplified, and translated into

Lukacs (Georg or Gyorgy) Hungarian Influential adapter of Marxian theory to use in thinking about cultural forms 1885 -1971 Observing the rise of technological media in

Lukacs (Georg or Gyorgy) The way in which a system produces a web of ideas which become “reality” And acquire an object like function, such that they are part of our everydayness, like a dresser or a bed

Lukacs (Georg or Gyorgy) The way in which a dominant system produces a web of ideas which become “reality” And acquire an object like function, such that they are part of our everydayness, like a dresser or a bed, so that we do not question or “interrogate” these

Lukacs (Georg or Gyorgy) The way in which a The dominant system through both produces a web of unconscious and ideas which conscious means uses become “reality” this “everydayness” and And acquire an “object-like-ness” to object like function, reproduce its own power such that they are as everyday and object part of our like: (it is real like the everydayness, like object) This a dresser or a bed, reproduction occurs in so that we do not the way the system question or mimics objects as a web “interrogate” these which codes our world

Lukacs (Georg or Gyorgy) Must move back and forth between “reality” and its “copies” looking for something beyond its copies (the real, the actual) Must constantly interrogate our systems with this WEBER would call the way copies are inserted for the Dialectical thinking is essential for a culture to stay awake WEBER would call this process disenchantment

Adorno (Theodore): 1903 – 1969 Composed music/made music Thought about music that can be bought “readymade” - the effect of already produced on the production and reproduction of music

Adorno (Theodore): 1903 – 1969 How does the ready-made” the effect of already produced produce “enchantment” of cultures How can we reproduce “disenchantment”

Adorno (Theodore): 1903 – 1969 The problem of the “right” – critiques culture from a moral standpoint around certain chosen nodes (sexuality, public purity) for example unfortunately these critiques often serve as distractions, as images which become reified in such a way as to become catharsis only. This moral outrage often serves to redirect efforts to uncover the real issues involved – it often unwitting, serves to maintain the issues – especially when catharsis becomes more central than actual solutions as in Propaganda Ready made music is often used to underscore moral meaning and thus, to connect them to cultural memory

Adorno (Theodore): 1903 – 1969 Need a critique A critique interrogates It interrogates by dialectic Movement between enchantment of the surrounding environs and its uses of enchantments Can only be done through maintaining contact with actual material world and observing this material is “reenchanted” “Uses of enchantment” -Bruno Bettelheim: Adorno wants us to

Lucien Goldmann (1913 -1970) Paris + Romanian Possibilities of Cultural Action Through the Mass Media (title of his second chapter in book called) While classical critical theory offers us tools for analysis – it has trouble empowering change: Victimization of those seeking change, only able to empower them through negative process This leaves them susceptible to their own ideology And also to being dualistically over portrayed by those in

Lucien Goldmann (1913 -1970) Paris + Romanian Locus of power Plane of action In Marx: this found through the coordinates of poverty In modern westernized industrial society the plane of action is different:

Lucien Goldmann (1913 -1970) Paris + Romanian Locus of power Plane of action In Marx: this found through the coordinates of poverty In modern westernized industrial society the plane of action is different: the plane is the psychic structure that

Lucien Goldmann (1913 -1970) Paris + Romanian Locus of power Plane of action In modern westernized industrial society the plane of action is different: the plane is the psychic structure that permeates at collective & individual level Thus the interrogation that creates action has some challenges – in that it aims at the psyche but needs to make actual change. This is where Television becomes interesting as it becomes part of a consumer culture AS this culture becomes skilled at turning inner action into outer

Raymond Williams (19211988) Televisions effects Television and Cultural Reproduction: Essay Review: Michael W. Apple and Jeffrey D. Lukowsky. Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 12, No. 4, Oct. 1978)

Raymond Williams (19211988) Televisions effects Television and Cultural Reproduction: Essay Review: Michael W. Apple and Jeffrey D. Lukowsky. Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 12, No. 4, Oct. 1978)

Four movies: This is a recorded message The Electronic Story Teller The dish ran away with the spoon Cultural Sovereignty: Shaping Information Match to thinker

Five readings Canadian Idol Soap Opera/Train 48 Draupadi’s Disrobing Sex and the City: Sex and the Citizen Murphy Brown Match to thinker