Marshall McLuhan is an important figure in media studies because he changed the way mediums were interpreted and viewed by audiences. McLuhan adapted this view of thinking from two of his Cambridge University professors. This first being, I.A. Richards, in which the idea was to not look at literature, in McLuhan's case Media, in how it can be restated or easily interpreted, but how it mentally effects the reader or audience. The second was F.R. Leavis, who taught McLuhan to analyze his social surroundings. McLuhan applied those teachings into his analyzing of mediums and how they affected the mental perception of those who viewed them. Also showing the cultural beliefs and common assumptions that are perpetuated in the media through advertising.
McLuhan personally speaks to me as an advertising major, to take notice of the subliminal messages that are being fed to viewers through all forms of media (television, radio, etc.) His research and the technique he used to apply to media shows how in our society, stereotypes are able to be able to continually be perpetuated by the role media plays in our day-to-day existence.
-Alexis Cummings
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3 comments:
Alexis,
I agree that advertising can have very strong effects in our society. Some say it is both the good and evil of it. I took entrepreneurship for four years in high school so I definitely understand what you mean about how everything in advertisements is planned to some extent and they can an normally do have subliminal messages, even though they are technically illegal to some extent. I also took English Comp II last semester and our topic was advertising and postmodern society, so we learned a lot about how advertisements have subliminal messages to certain markets.
~Karen Borden
For McLuhan cliché (sterotypes) were the hidden ground of our perceptions and that they actually were powerful.
Advertising which he called folk art was the playing upon these hidden understandings. it is the artist role to reveal these hidden objects and in there revelation arm us against their effects Artist are the antennae of the race said Ezra Pound
Of course, I never always took the time to realize the meaning of what media can do to a person. Whether good or bad, it can always make people do things they are not always intitled to do. Some have believed that some things on television, radio, or any broadcasting can send negative signals, if you are not careful. But then there are those that can actually teach you some values that can affect you in a good way, especially ones that recognize mistakes so you can learn from them. It is quite powerful how things are view through media, and everyone is a victim of falling into the trap.
-William Waitman
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