matt:littlemore

McLuhan Today Show \'76
In perhaps his most popular work, Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man, McLuhan elaborates upon the sensory manipulation of the electric media. Like most of his writing, Understanding Media was criticized for its indigestible content and often paradoxical ideas. Ironically, it was this work which captured the minds of the American public and triggered McLuhan’s metamorphosis from literary scholar into pop culture guru.
Understanding Media contained the quintessential McLuhanism: “the medium is the message.” McLuhan explained that the content of all electric media was insignificant; it was instead the medium itself which would have the greatest impact upon the socio-cultural environment. This perspective was contested by all members of the mass communication paradigm–empirical researchers rejected McLuhan’s grand theorizing; critical cultural theorists felt McLuhan undermined their agenda by discounting the power relationships inherent in and perpetuated by media content.
In Understanding Media, McLuhan proposes a more controvesial frame for judging media: “hot” and “cool.” These categorizations are puzzling and contemporary technology renders them practically obsolete. In simplest terms, “hot” is exclusive and “cool” is inclusive. Hot media are highly defined; there is little information to be filled in by the user. Radio is a hot medium; it requires minimal participation. Cool media, by contrast, are low definition and thus highly participatory because the user must “fill in the blanks.” Television is the ultimate “cool” medium because it is highly participatory. This categorization is extremely problematic to those who consider television viewing a passive activity.
To illustrate this concept, McLuhan analyzed the Kennedy – Nixon debates of 1960. Kennedy’s televisual victory was due to the fact that he exuded an objective, disinterested, “cool” persona. Nixon, better suited for the “hot” medium of radio, was considered victorious by those who had listened to the debates on radio.
- Sharon Zechowski
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McLuhan Today Show \'76

This entry was posted by Maff on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 5:05 pm. It is filed under articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.