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Chapter 31—Media Ecology

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Title:
"Technologic," Daft Punk, Human After All
Claim:
Media shape the sensory world of meanings that in turn shapes our perceptions, experiences, attitudes, and behavior.
Application:
Daft Punk is a French musical duo created by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Early in the group's history, they adopted the persona of robots, appearing in public dressed in their iconic robot costumes. This also fits the focus of their music, which plays with the intersection of people, machines, and media in our digtal era. "Technologic" is the most-streamed song from their third album, and the lyrics are a droning repetition of verbs related to computers. They seem to be making a claim that resonates with McLuhan: Our technology changes how we think about the world and how we think about ourselves. For those willing to take a close look, it may be worth considering how McLuhan intersects with the entire album, Human After All, and also how those themes continue and transform in their next album, the 2014 Grammy Album of the Year Random Access Memories. On that album, see especially "Touch," a track that, like McLuhan, considers touch (or lack thereof) a key sense in our experience with technology.
Link:
https://open.spotify.com/track/0LSLM0zuWRkEYemF7JcfEE?si=15e1e1d7a5984e38
Discovered  By:
Andrew

Title:
"28 Hours / Wherever We Are" & "Phoning Home," Come From Away Original Broadway Cast, Come From Away
Claim:
Media shape the sensory world of meanings that in turn shapes our perceptions, experiences, attitudes, and behavior.
Application:
The musical Come From Away tells the true story of travelers who were forced to land in a small Newfoundland town during the events of the September 11, 2011 terrorist attacks. These two songs describe the symbolic environment of 2001, how the lack of cell phones made it difficult or impossible to learn news or contact loved ones. Although they took their symbolic environment for granted at the time, we now see their symbolic environment as something strange and different -- indeed, one character even "breaks the fourth wall" to explain this to the audience at 0:52-0:56 in "28 Hours / Wherever We Are." This begs the question: If a crisis of this magnitude were to happen now, how would the symbolic environment shape our response?
Link:
https://open.spotify.com/track/1qGUSP6STi8JIrFjkYsl30?si=3d8f4afb71b94cfe; https://open.spotify.com/track/6x7DkGiL1w8dsPzIx1ExoA?si=c1d3a9f169b04143
Discovered  By:
Andrew

Title:
"Red Sky at Morning," The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, Christianity Today
Claim:
The symbolic environment is the socially constructed, sensory world of meanings that in turn shapes our perceptions, experiences, attitudes, and behavior.
Application:
The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill is a podcast that describes the explosive popularity of Mark Driscoll's Seattle church, and how that church came to a sudden and tragic end. Much of the church's rise--and, arguably, fall--has to do with the media environment of the time. Driscoll was an early innovator in communicating religious messages through the Internet, and in this episode, the host and guests argue that this focus on online celebrity came at the expense of local connections. In the segment highlighted, McLuhan, Postman, and media ecology appear as explanatory mechanisms for what happened at Mars Hill.
Link:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4xDLdw6bkIFeS3bQaZXKpA?si=e94320c67df64f51
Cue Point:
Much of the episode is relevant, but specific mention of media ecology is at 19:22-23:28
Discovered  By:
Andrew

Title:
"Marshall McLuhan - Digital Prophecies: The Medium is the Message", Al Jazeera English
Claim:
Symbolic environments are the socially constructed, sensory world of meanings that in turn shapes our perceptions, experiences, attidues, and behavior.
Application:
This brief video offers an engaging, visually creative summary of McLuhan's media ecology.
Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09ML9n5f1fE
Discovered  By:
Andrew

Title:
"Marshall McLuhan - The Medium Is The Message [1977]"
Claim:
McLuhan's famous phrase "the medium is the message" refers to the vast, unavoidable influence of a technology's existence.
Application:
If you're confused about what "the medium is the message" means, you might try listening to McLuhan explain it in his own words. The segments highlighted here are short and relevant, although the whole interview is worth watching.
Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoCrx0scCkM&t=454s
Cue Point:
2:32-3:25; 7:50-8:42
Discovered  By:
Andrew

Title:
"Back to School: 80s VS Now", Holderness Family Vlogs
Claim:
Symbolic environments are the socially constructed, sensory world of meanings that in turn shapes our perceptions, experiences, attidues, and behavior.
Application:
This video pokes fun at differences in back to school rituals during the 1980s versus now. In the second half of the video, some of these changes involve technology. How would McLuhan explain these changes? How does the symbolic environment shape the behaviors, thoughts, and attitudes of parents and their students?
Link:
https://youtu.be/a_hFqeJ65So?t=92
Cue Point:
1:33-2:57
Discovered  By:
Andrew

Title:
"Coney Island", Taylor Swift, Evermore
Claim:
Symbolic environments are the socially constructed, sensory world of meanings that in turn shapes our perceptions, experiences, attidues, and behavior.
Application:
There’s one line in this song that reflects on how the Internet has changed shopping in America, and with it people’s social lives… and beyond the lyrics, something about the wistful reflective mood of this song fits with media ecology’s concern that perhaps communication technology has led us to lose more than we realize.
Link:
https://open.spotify.com/track/3k7ne7VmH43ZPWxPdvPUgR?si=5abd91273fe348f8
Discovered  By:
Andrew

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