As I search for my own mediated artifact, is hard to come
across an object that doesn’t enforce our media-driven culture. Even objects
once innocuous, pervasive in many regions of the world long before modern media
even existed now serve to enforce its domination in our daily lives. The clock,
for example, has been a staple in punctuating our behavior. However, it now
serves as the backbone of media constraint, segmenting our lives and defining
transitions between different media. We no longer read a clock, a clock tells
us where to be, what to do and even how to live no that media keeps us
connected at all hours of the day.
The advancement of modern media is in many ways very similar
to House of Danger in its
presentation of freedom and manipulation. An object like television advertises
freedom of choice and an infinite variety of content. However, what we view on
TV is manipulated by those who broadcast it and selectively filtered to
restrict our choice to a handful of options, much like House of Danger, which claims to provide the reader with control
over the story, but in reality only presents the reader with a few choices that
lead to predetermined outcomes. Both forms of entertainment rely heavily,
however, on the reader’s sense of freedom to sell and expand their popularity.
I feel like it's common to feel like we have several options when the options are presented to us in black in white. While shopping or running errands for example, we may walk into a store and see an aisle with dozens of brands of laundry detergent and think to ourselves, "Wow, look at all my options!" But what's actually happening is that this particular store has made itself the best and only logical choice for a place to buy detergent.
ReplyDeleteI found your piece about advertising especially interesting because I recently began watching Mad Men. It's the best. Anyway, in season one, Don Draper, the protagonist says, "Advertising is based on one thing, happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It's a billboard on the side of the road that screams reassurance that whatever you are doing is okay. You are okay." In this statement Don clearly explains the goal of the media's manipulation. They're looking to comfort and convince us, as if there is much of a choice. Advertising is almost a science today. It is formulated to convince you something is the best and then support you when you believe you've made a decision about the value of the product.
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