“We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter they shape us.”—Marshall McLuhan
Without question, Marshall McLuhan was one of the most influential thinkers of the last 50 years, even though he is often overlooked on such lists. He is one of the fathers of media and cultural studies, developing multidisciplinary theories that focused on things like television and advertising long before we all realized how important these things were to in our society. He has left an impressive legacy. McLuhan’s Wake examines the impact of his ideas, while also telling us the story of his life.
As far as casual viewers go, it’s hard to go wrong with McLuhan’s Wake. It offers an impressive introduction to McLuhan’s four media laws, which are a bit out of date but still useful in developing a fundamental knowledge of media and cultural studies. If you are already well versed in cultural theory, it won’t be very useful unless you teach media studies, in which case it could prove to be a valuable resource. Some of McLuhan’s ideas and concerns have become even more relevant since his death, even though he hasn’t been able to update his own writings to incorporate these new mediums and technologies. Like anything, McLuhan’s Wake needs to be approached with caution and a critical eye. McLuhan would have wanted us to approach his own theories like that, I think. If only the creators of this set had done that a little more. Reviewed by Judge Joel Pearce
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[…] Shortly before leaving home, I watched McLuhan’s Wake, a documentary on Marshall McLuhan, the father of media theory, and coiner of “the medium is the message.” One of the points hammered home in the film was that the tools we create, be they cars, hammers or laptops, end up, in a sense, creating us. That is to say, the technology with which many of us have grown up is inextricably linked to our expectations and desires for a Jewish community. Let me explain. […]
Pingback by Jewschool » Blog Archive » The Long Tzitzis — put August 9, 2007 @ 7:30 pm
There is also a much larger torrent available (~2.3GB) which includes mp3’s of interviews more video and assorted documents. If this video piqued your interests in any way it might be recommendable.
What has astonished me for over 33 years is the General ignorance of the public regarding this man’s work.
I first discovered “Undestanding Media” in the Stacks at the Penn State University Library while I was very busy flailing about and essentially flunking myself out of the Pre-Med program there. I mean, Medicine is at the core of Biotechnical Technologies and I felt originally it would lead me towards the answers I was seeking. Reading McLuhan I felt I could put all of it in perspective and take a few additional leaps towards the social sciences, literature , and the Arts while still remaining well-versed in physics, chemistry, biology and “Hard sciences”.
I finally obtained my own copy of the book, and began to study everything pertaining to my own brand of “applied Media Technology” coupled with the strict mathematical charms of Shannon-Weaver-Weiner Information Theory.
Well, you can bet that led to computers real quick, but Video and audio production and technologies were still my bread and butter through the 80’s.
McLuhan lead me to Joyce, and then to a discovery called ROBERT ANTON WILSON. who feedback-looped back to McLuhan and Terrence Mckenna.
“What a long strange trip is has been” –JG GD
There must me much more I could say, however, I want to close this post with a complaint or maybe a request.
I have never ever seen a complet searchable text version of Understanding Media, Gutenberg Galaxy, or any of McLuhan’s seminal works on the internet!!!
This is nothing short of a sin and might even cause McLuhan to “roll in his Grave” Like Orwell has been alluded to do, due to the shabby state of the world political system despite adequate verbal warnings.
So, if anyone has a copy of Understanding Media and would like to scan it, hint, hint…
I rest my case…
Comment by warblecl0x — put August 10, 2007 @ 6:51 pm
You can find an html edition of Understanding Media in GLOR 16.
Comment by Dr Grey — put August 10, 2007 @ 9:26 pm
I was with you all the way … until you mentioned Robert Anton Wilson. It was like being with Linus when he mentions the Great Pumpkin in the Sky
Comment by spafon7e — put August 16, 2007 @ 6:48 am
Dr Grey: Thanks, yes I knoew abot that, however I thought it was not the full text… I will have to look through it again, thanks for the pointer… and everything.
spafon7e: Ummmm….. McLuhan stated man Lives Mythically and Indepth. Elsewhere he extensively discusses the framentation of the information and breifly touches upon the potential effects on consciousness.
Wilson attempted to define and characterize the fragmented mythos bothe in using self-constructed literature and essays to expound and demonstrate his thesis.
Charles Schultz utilized a little boy’s misunderstood belief in unknown things, embodied as the Great Pumpkin. In as much as Linus is everyMan/Boy — misunderstood, insecure, and groping at the universe for explanation… The Great Pumpkin is Everything unknown, imagined or otherwise…
It may be a good anology if that is what you meant.
now how about “The Gutenberg Galaxy”???
Comment by warblecl0x — put August 16, 2007 @ 6:12 pm
Errrm. I’m not sure what to make of
your posturing. RAW was a self-admitted
charlatan who agreed that his work was
largely fiction.
Comment by spafon7e — put August 16, 2007 @ 7:06 pm
Linus
I think you missed the point. I’ll try to illustrate it differently for you.
In the office one day we were discussing reincarnation. The conversation went round & round. All quite commonplace. That is, until a quiet heretofore totally normal woman (or so we thought from the years we’d known her) chipped in with: ‘I happen to *know* that reincarnation happens. In my last life I was a Venusian.’
Which brought everything to a halt.
As with Linus and The Great Pumpkin.
As with you and RAW.
OK?
Comment by spafon7e — put August 16, 2007 @ 11:08 pm
“a self-admitted
charlatan”
“In my last life I was a Venusian.”
posturing…
;)
quite an interesting set of memes…
this reminds me of the scene in Annie Hall where Woody Allen pulls Marshall McLuhan out of the bushes to tell the armchair movie critic standing in line behind him that he is a hopelessly deluded twit…
in your case… I would have Marshall tell you to read his books again and pay attention to the portions where the human condition is fraught with mythic importance and delusions and that the charlatan is an archetypical character who appears from time to time help us laugh aloud at our misconceptions.
Sure, if you “believe”… then you might be a fool… that only seems to indicate that you are either at the beginning, the end or in a continuous transit of that stage of your quest for the “truth” behind the veil.
your “totally normal woman” brought your festivities to a halt??? I would have at least asked for some crucial details about life on Venus.
Another area where you should look is John C. Lilly.
Yeah he communes with dolphins and isolates his brain in a tank…
but… “I am not the Program, I am the Programmer”
is a quote that you should consider deeply.
So what I end up saying… is .. Take control of your entire reality… your media, Your mythic life, and your practical brain are the product of what you have made it to be…or have, quite willingly, accepted programs from others. And again, don’t forget about those cute feedback loops…
peace
Comment by warblecl0x — put August 17, 2007 @ 12:41 pm