Media Theory
School of Media Studies
The New School
Fall 2021
Instructor: Prof. Peter Asaro asarop AT
newschool.edu
NMDS: 5006 C CRN: 6503
Time: Tuesdays,
6:00 - 7:50 pm
Location: Synchronous Online (ZOOM)
Course webpage is here: http://peterasaro.org/courses/2021MT.html
Course blog is here: http://MediaTheory2021.wordpress.com
Course Description
This course is required of all first-semester Media Studies students. Media Theory provides an overview of the major schools of academic thought that have influenced the field of Media Studies, as they pertain to three central themes: Media and Power, Media and Technology, and Media and Aesthetics. The historical and philosophical roots of the discipline are emphasized through a wide variety of readings, discussions, and academic writing assignments.
This course is a survey of ideas. Media Studies is an
inter-disciplinary field of study. We tend to assume that ours is an
exceptional era, one unprecedented in its mediatization, unique in its
digitality, its information- and image-centricity. But even if the conditions
of our media environment are unprecedented, these claims of exceptionality
are not new nor are the practices of thinking about and theorizing media and
communication. In this course we will focus on the schools of thought that
have shaped the study of media throughout the 20th century, and the theories
that have lain the foundation for media studies in the 21st century. We will
discover that media studies, as it emerged as an academic discipline, has
borrowed from a variety of other fields, including literary theory, art
history, anthropology, sociology, history, and philosophy, to name just a
few. As we come to appreciate the interdisciplinary nature of media studies,
we will also have to consider what distinguishes our field from others: What
constitutes a medium? What is communication? And, furthermore, what is
"theory" and what good is it to theorize the media, or any cultural practice
or product, for that matter? We have time this semester only to survey the
field to see the primary ways others have approached the study of media and,
in the process, to acquire a vocabulary of theory and establish a set of
questions we can apply to the study of media.
This course aims at a critical analysis of how media
have changed (and are changed by) the social perception of reality, modes of
social communications, and power relations, and are inextricably linked to
social structures, life practices, cultural developments, and material
technologies. To this end we will consider three fundamental areas:
Aesthetics, Power and Technology.
Media Theory will serve not only as a foundational
course for intermediate and advanced courses in the Media Studies Program,
but as a sharp critical engagement of the roles the media play in our
individual and collective experience. Selected viewing and listening
assignments will supplement readings and provide material to work with in
class discussions.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS &
GRADING:
Class Attendance and Participation:
20%
Blog Entries & Comments: 25%
Mid-Term Exam: 25%
Final Project: 30%
Class Attendance and Participation:
20%
You are expected to have thoroughly and thoughtfully
read the assigned texts and to have prepared yourself to contribute
meaningfully to the class discussions. For some people, that preparation
requires taking copious notes on or abstracting the assigned readings; for
others, it entails supplementing the assigned readings with explanatory texts
found in survey textbooks or in online sources; and for others still, it
involves reading the texts, ruminating on them afterwards, then discussing
those readings with classmates before the class meeting. Whatever method best
suits you, I hope you arrive at class with copies of the assigned reading,
ready and willing to make yourself a valued contributor to the discussion, and
eager to share your own relevant media experiences and interests. Your
participation will be evaluated in terms of both quantity and
quality.
As this is a survey course, regular attendance is essential. You will be
permitted two excused absences (you must notify me of your inability to attend
before class, via email or phone). Any subsequent absences and any un-excused
absences will adversely affect your grade.
If you must take the class "asynchronously" due to scheduling or time-zone conflicts, you must make arrangements with me for your class participation at the beginning of the semester. In most cases this will consist of watching the posted videos of the weekly discussion, and posting an additional weekly blog entry with your reflections on the week's topic and readings (approx. 1 page or 500 words).
Blog Entries & Comments:
25%
You will be required to make weekly blog entries commenting on the assigned readings and any additional related material you discover on your own and wish to share with the class.
You will be required to create an account on WordPress (if you
do not already have one), and will receive an email invitation to be added as an author to the private collective course blog. Everyone will be posting
to a common blog page, and this will be readable by your classmates, but not by people outside of the class. When writing and making comments, you are expected to treat other students with the same respect and courtesy as you should in the classroom, and to cite the sources of any text or quotes you use in accordance with academic honesty policies.
You are also expected to read the posts of your classmates, and encouraged to comment on other people's posts each week. Posts will not be graded but I, and other students, will read them and occasionally comment on them. There will be 12 posts worth 2 Points (on-time) or 1 point (late) required through the semester (not required on days when papers/projects are due), thus 24 points, plus 6 points for comments on the posts of other students, totalling 30% of your grade.
Blog posts will be due before
the start of each class. They are time stamped when you post them, and late
posts will only receive half credit (1 point). There is no specific assignment for each post,
but they should express your reactions to and reflections on your readings and the topic for that week.
Mid-Term Exam:
25%
Questions Given:
October 12
Answers Due: October 19
There will be a midterm exam due before Fall
Break.
The Mid-Term Exam will be a
Take-Home Essay Exam. Three (3) Exam Questions will be posted on the Blog
assignment page (in lieu of the regular Blog Assignment). You are to choose
one (1) Exam Question to answer in a 1000 word essay (approx. 3-5 pages,
Times New Roman, 12pt font, double spaced)
IMPORTANT: Your paper should
be submitted to me directly by email in electronic form (Word Perfect, MS
Word, PDF, HTML and plain TXT are all fine). All quotations and references
must be properly cited.DO NOT
POST YOUR ANSWERS ON THE BLOG!
Final Paper: 30%
Proposals Due: November 9
Paper Due: December 14
Length: 3000-5000 words (approx. 12-18 pages)
There will be no final exam. Instead, a 3000-5000 word
(Times New Roman, 12pt font, double spaced) term paper is due on the last day
of class. If that time will not work for you, you need to make other
arrangements at least ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE.
Paper topics can
address any aspect of the topics and materials discussed in class. They can
focus on the theories themselves, or in applying the theories to media
phenomena. Papers should include materials beyond what is directly covered in
class, as appropriate for your topic. The blog will provide many ideas for
papers, as will class discussion. You will have to write a proposal for your
paper, but you should be thinking about possible topics throughout the
semester.
Your paper
should be submitted to me in electronic form (Word Perfect, MS Word, PDF, HTML
and plain TXT are all fine). Late papers will not be accepted, as I must turn
in grades shortly thereafter.
Useful Resources:
Lawrence Grossberg, Ellen Wartella & D. Charles Whitney,
Media Making: Mass Media in Popular Culture, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage,
1998.
Vincent B. Leitch, Ed., Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, New
York: W.W. Norton, 2001.
Dominic Strinati, An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture, New
York: Routledge, 1995.
W.J.T.
Mitchell's "U Chicago Media Theory Glossary"
Kristi Siegel, "Introduction
to Modern Literary Theory"
Tips for Reading Theory:
"How to Read Theory," James
Klumpp, University of Maryland
"Five Skills a Good
Theorist Must Master," James Klumpp, University of Maryland
"Heuristics for
Studying Theory," Vincent Leitch, University of Oklahoma
"Hints
on How to Read Theory," Michelle Murphy, University of Toronto
READINGS
All readings will be available electronically, via the web, in
PDF, MS Word, HTML, or similar format.
Part I: What is Media
Theory?
Week 1: August 31
Introduction
Course Overview
How to create a WordPress
Account, and make a Blog Entry
Watch: "Secrets of
Silicon Valley: The Persuasion Machine" BBC, 45 min., 2017. (UK access
only)
Recommended:
Watch: Douglas
Rushkoff, Generation Like (2014) PBS Frontline.
Watch: Douglas Rushkoff,
Merchants of Cool (2001) PBS Frontline
Watch: Douglas
Rushkoff, Digital Nation (2010) PBS
Frontline
Week 2: September 7
What is Media? What is Media
Theory?
Required:
Marshall
McLuhan, "The Medium is the Message," in Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas M.
Kellner, Eds., Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks, Rev. Ed., Malden,
MA: Blackwell, 2006: 129-138.
Mark Hansen,
"Media Theory," Theory, Culture & Society, 23(2-3) (2006):
297-306.
Denis
McQuail, "First Approaches," in McQuail's Mass Communication Theory,
4th ed., London: Sage, 2000: 4-15.
Recommended:
Georg
Stanitzek, "Texts and Paratexts in Media," Critical Inquiry 32.1
(Autumn 2005): 27-42.
Kevin
Williams, "Introduction: Unraveling Media Theory" and "Section 1: Developing
the Field: A History of Media Theory," in Understanding Media Theory,
London: Arnold, 2003: 1-70.
W.
J. T. Mitchell, "Medium Theory: Preface to the 2003 Critical Inquiry
Symposium," Critical Inquiry, 30/2 April, 2003.
W.
Bruno Latour, "Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern," Critical Inquiry, 30/2 April, 2003.
Watch: Marshall McLuhan clips on CBC
The World is a Global Village (1960)
McLuhan predicts 'World Connectivity' (1965)
A Pop Philosopher (1965)
Oracle of the Electronic Age (1966)
McLuhan and Mailer Go Head-to-Head
(1967)
Week 3:
September 14
What is
Theory?
Required:
Jonathan
Culler, "What Is Theory?" In Literary Theory: A Very Short
Introduction, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997:
1-17.
M.
H. Abrams, "The Orientation of Critical Theories," In The Mirror and the
Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition, Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1953: 3-29.
Watch: Noam Chomsky interview on
"Why Philosophy?," YoutTube Video, 3 min.
Watch: Noam Chomsky interview on
"Understanding Reality," YoutTube Video, 19 min.
Watch: Bertrand Russell interview
on "Mankind's Future and Philosophy," YoutTube Video, 13 min.
Listen: Radiolab podcast
on Words, August 9, 2010
Recommended:
Vincent
B. Leitch, "Preface," "Assessing Reading Practices: From New Criticism to
Poststructuralism to Cultural Studies," and "Theory Fashion", in Theory
Matters, New York: Routledge, 2003: vii-x, 9-15,
29-33.
Terry
Eagleton, "The Rise and Fall of Theory" and "The Path to Postmodernism," in
After Theory, New York: Basic Books, 2003:
23-73.
Antonio
Gramsci, "The Study of Philosophy," in Selections from the Prison
Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, New York: International Publishers, 1971:
323-377.
Mediology Maps by Martin Irvine
MediologyMap.html
AppliedTheory.jpg
WhyMediology.html
Part II: Media and Power
Week 4:
September 21
Power I: Deception &
Propaganda
Required:
Edward
Bernays, Propaganda, Horace Liveright Inc., 1928, pp. 1-61 and
135-153.
Edward
Herman & Noam Chomsky "A Propaganda Model," in Meenakshi Gigi Durham
& Douglas M. Kellner, Eds., Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks,
Rev. Ed., Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001: 280-317.
Max
Horkheimer & Theodor Adorno, "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass
Deception," in Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner, Eds., Media
and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks, Rev. Ed., Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001:
71-101.
Watch: Mark Achbar and Peter
Wintonick, Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, 1992,
167 min.
Recommended:
Watch: Adam Curtis, The
Century of the Self, 2002, 235 min.
Watch: Jeff
Hancock, "The Future of Lying," Ted Talk, September 2012, 18 minutes.
Stuart
Hall "Encoding/Decoding," in Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner,
Eds., Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks, Rev. Ed., Malden, MA:
Blackwell, 2001: 166-176.
Joseph
Goebbels, "The Führer as a Speaker," German Propaganda Archive, Calvin
College, 1936.
David
Vaughn, "The Master's Voice," The Guardian, October 8,
2008.
Cornelia
Epping-Jäger "Hitler's Voice : The Loudspeaker under National
Socialism." Intermédialités, 17 (2011): 83–104.
Joseph
Goebbels, "Knowledge and Propaganda," German Propaganda Archive, Calvin
College, 1934.
Week 5:
September 28
Power II: Ideology & The Public
Sphere
Required:
Karl Marx
& Frederick Engels. "The Ruling Class and The Ruling Idea," reprinted in
Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner, Eds., Media and Cultural
Studies: KeyWorks, Rev. Ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001:
39-42.
Jürgen
Habermas, "The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article," reprinted in
Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner, Eds., Media and Cultural
Studies: KeyWorks, Rev. Ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001:
102-107.
Nicholas
Garnham, "The Media and the Public Sphere," in Habermas and the Public
Sphere, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995:
359-376.
Watch: Jon Stewart on
Crossfire, 2004.
Watch: Eli
Parser, "Beware Online 'Filter Bubbles'," Ted Talk, March 2011, 9
minutes.
Nicholas
Thompson, and Fred Vogelstein, "Inside Two Years that Shook Facebook--And The
World," Wired, February 12, 2018.
Recommended:
Watch: Sidney Lumet, Network,
MGM, 1976, 121 min.
Nancy
Fraser, "Rethinking the Public Sphere," reprinted in Simon During, Ed.,
The Cultural Studies Reader, 2nd ed., New York: Routledge, 1993:
518-536.
Craig Calhoun,
"Introduction," in Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, 1995: 1-50.
David
Joselit, "The Video Public Sphere," in Nicholas Mirzoeff, Ed., The Visual
Culture Reader, New York: Routledge, 1998:
451-457.
Antonio
Gramsci. "History of The Subaltern Classes, and The Concept of 'Ideology',"
reprinted in Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner, Eds., Media and
Cultural Studies: KeyWorks, Rev. Ed., Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001:
43-47.
Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy: Juergen Habermas
Ryan Holiday,
Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator, "Book Two:
The Monster Attacks, What Blogs Mean," Portfolio/Penguin, 2012, pp. 123-236.
Week 6: October 5
Power III: Discipline and
Control
Required:
Michael
Foucault, "III. Discipline, 3. Panopticism," in Discipline & Punish:
The Birth of the Prison, New York: Vintage Books, 1975 (translated from
the French by Alan Sheridan, 1977): 195-228.
Alexander
R. Galloway and Eugene Thacker, "Protocol, Control, and Networks," Grey
Room, 17, Fall 2004: 6-29.
Shoshana
Zuboff, "Big Other: Surveillance Capitalism and the Prospects of an
Information Civilization," Journal of Information Technology (2015)
30, 75–89.
Recommended:
Gilles
Deleuze,"Control and Becoming" and "Postscript on Control Societies," in
Negotiations, 1972-1990, New York: Columbia University Press, 1995:
169-182.
Joshua
Meyrowitz, "Media and Behavior: A Missing Link," in No Sense of Place: The
Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior, New York: Oxford
University Press, 1985: 13-34.
Alexander R.
Galloway, "Protocol," Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 23 (2006):
317-320.
Watch: Glenn
Greenwald and Laura Poitras Interview with Edward Snowden Part
I, 12 min., The Guardian, July 9, 2013, and Part
II, 7 min., The Guardian, July 8, 2013
Watch: Laura Poitras, "Citizen Four,"
2014, 114 minutes.
Week 7: October 12
Power IV: Bias and Representation
MIDTERM QUESTIONS POSTED
Required:
Nikolas Rose & Thomas
Osborne, "Do the Social Sciences Create Phenomena: The Case of Public Opinion
Research," British Journal of Sociology, 50, 3 (1999):
367-396.
Herman
Gray, "The Politics of Representation In Network Television," in Meenakshi
Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner, Eds., Media and Cultural Studies:
KeyWorks, Rev. Ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001:
439-462.
Lisa
Nakamura, "Menu-Driven Identities: Making Race Happen Online," in
Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet, London:
Routledge, 2002: 101-135.
Amit Datta,
Anupam Datta, Jael Makagon, Deirdre K. Mulligan, Michael Carl Tschantz,
"Discrimination in Online Personalization: A Multidisciplinary Inquiry,"
Proceedings of Machine Learning Research, 81:1–15,
2018.
Watch: The
Persuaders (2004) PBS Frontline
Watch: 430
Demographics (2008) TheOnion.com
Recommended:
Harold Innis, "The Bias of
Communication," in The Bias of Communication, Toronto: University of
Toronto Press: 33-60.
Judith Butler,
Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of
Identity.
Part III: Media and Technology
Week 8: October 19
Technology I: Science & Technology Studies
MIDTERM EXAMS DUE
Required:
Bruno Latour, "A Collective of Humans and
Nonhumans," in Pandora's Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science
Studies, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999:
174-215.
Gary
Lee Downey, Joseph Dumit & Sarah Williams, "Cyborg
Anthropology,"Cultural Anthropology, May 1995, Vol. 10, No. 2:
264-269.
Judy Wajcman and
Paul K. Jones, "Border Communication: Media Sociology and STS," Media,
Culture & Society, September 2012, vol. 34, no. 6, pp.
673-690.
Christina
Dunbar-Hester, "Beyond McLuhan: Your New Media Studies Syllabus," The
Atlantic, September 16, 2010.
Recommended:
Pablo Boczkowski & L.
Lievrouw, "Bridging STS and Communication Studies: Scholarship on Media and
Information Technologies," in O. Amsterdamska, E. Hackett, M. Lynch & J.
Wajcman (eds.), The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, Third
edition, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007: 949-977.
Michel
Callon (1986) "Some elements of a sociology of translation: domestication of
the scallops and the fishermen of St Brieuc Bay," First published in J. Law,
Power, action and belief: a new sociology of knowledge? London,
Routledge, 1986, pp.196-223.
Bruno Latour, "Glossary," inPandora's Hope:
Essays on the Reality of Science Studies, Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1999: 303-311.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science,_technology_and_society
Week 9: October 26
Technology II: Cybernetics &
Information
Required:
Peter Asaro, "Cybernetics," in Raul Rojas
(ed.), The Encyclopedia of Computers and Computer History, London, UK:
Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2001: 219.
Peter
Asaro, "Cybernetic Writings of Norbert Wiener," in Raul Rojas (ed.), The
Encyclopedia of Computers and Computer History, London, UK: Fitzroy
Dearborn Publishers, 2001: 220.
Norbert Wiener, "Information,
Language and Society," in Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the
Animal and the Machine. Paris: Hermann and Co., Cambridge, MA: The
Technology Press, and New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons, 1948:
155-165.
N.
Katherine Hayles, "Liberal Subjectivity Imperiled: Norbert Weiner and
Cybernetic Anxiety," in How We Became Post-Human: Virtual Bodies in
Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics, Chicago, IL: University of
Chicago Press, 1999: 84-112.
Herbert Brün, "Technology and
the Composer," UNESCO, 1970.
Watch: "Cambridge
Analytica Whistleblower: 'We Spent $1M harvesting millions of facebook
profiles'," The Guardian, March 17, 2018, 13min.
Recommended:
Warren Weaver, "Recent Contributions
to the Mathematical Theory of Communication," in Claude E. Shannon &
Warren Weaver, The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana, IL:
University of Illinois Press, 1948: 3-28.
Norbert Wiener, "The First and
the Second Industrial Revolutions," in The Human Use of Human Beings:
Cybernetics and Society. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1950:
136-162.
Peter
Asaro, (2010). “Whatever Happened to Cybernetics?” in Günther
Friesinger, Johannes Grenzfurthner, Thomas Ballhausen, and Verena Bauer
(eds.) Geist in der Maschine. Medien, Prozesse und Räume der
Kybernetik. Vienna, Austria: Verlag Turia & Kant, pp.
39-49.
Audio
MP3
Week 10: November 2
Technology III: Trans-Humanism &
Cyborgs
Required:
Donna
Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in
the Late Twentieth Century," in Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The
Reinvention of Nature, New York, NY: Routledge, 1991:
149-181.
Martti
Lahti, "As We Become Machines: Corporeal Pleasures in Video Games," The
Video Game Theory Reader, Mark J. P. Wolf, and Bernard Perron (eds.), New
York, Routledge, 2003: 157-170.
Recommended:
Manfred
E. Clynes & Nathan S. Kline, "Cyborgs and Space," Astronautics
(September, 1960): 27-31. Reprinted in The Cyborg Handbook, Edited by
Chris Hables Gray, New York, NY: Routledge, 1995:
29-33.
Manfred E. Clynes, "Foreword," To
Cyborg: Evolution of the Superman, Daniel S. Halacy, New York, NY:
Harper and Row, 1965: 6-8.
Peter Asaro, "Cyborg," in
Raul Rojas (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Computers and Computer History,
London, UK: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2001: 221.
Week 11: November 9
Technology IV: New Media & Remediation
FINAL PAPER PROPOSALS DUE
Required:
Jay
David Bolter & Richard Grusin, "Theory," in Remediation: Understanding
New Media, Cambridge, MA: MIT University Press, 1999:
20-84.
Lev Manovich,
"What is New Media?" in The Language of New Media, Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, 2001: 18-55.
N.
Katherine Hayles, "Print Is Flat, Code Is Deep: The Importance of
Media-Specific Analysis," Poetics Today, 25:1 (Spring, 2004):
67-90.
Watch: Web 2.0 ... The Machine
is Us/ing Us (2007) Mark Wensch
Recommended:
Henry
Jenkins, "The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence," International Journal
of Cultural Studies, 7(1), 2004, 33-43.
Watch: Ondi Timoner, We Live in
Public, 2009, 90 min.
New Interface Talks on TED: Anand
Agarawala: BumpTop desktop (2007)
Blaise
Aguera y Arcas: Photosynth (2007)
Johnny
Lee: Wii Remote Hacks (2008)
Johnny Lee YouTube Video
(2008)
Part IV: Media and
Aesthetics
Week 12: November 16
Aesthetics I: Reproduction, Aura and Avant
Garde
Required:
Walter
Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility,"
in The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility and
Other Writings on Media, Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2008, pp.
19-55.
Jacques Ranciére, "The
Aesthetic Revolution and Its Outcomes: Emplotments of Autonomy and
Heteronomy," New Left Review, 14 : March-April, 2002, pp.
133-151.
Watch: Everything Is A Remix, Parts 1, 2, 3
and 4 (2015 REMASTER) Kirby Ferguson, 37 minutes.
Recommended:
Immanuel
Kant, "Analytic of Aesthetic Judgement, Analytic of the Beautiful,"
Critique of Judgment, James Creed Meredith (trans.) Oxford University
Press, 2007, pp. 35-74
Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Kant's Aesthetics and
Teleology
Watch: (Re)Creativity:
Remixing and Copyright (2007) Larry Lessig on TED
Week 13: November 23
Aesthetics II: Expression and the Work of
Art
Required:
John Dewey, "The Act of Expression," and "The
Expressive Object," in Art as Experience, Perigee Books, New York, NY,
1934, pp. 58-105.
Herbert Brün, "...to hold discourse-at
least-with a computer..", 1973.
Herbert Brün, "The Listener's Interpretation of Music, 1970"
Recommended:
Jean
Baudrillard, Simulations, New York; Semiotexte,
1983.
Teodor Adorno, "On
the Fetish Character in Music and the Regression of Listening," in The
Culture Industry, J. M. Bernstein (Ed.), New York: Routledge, 2001, pp.
29-60.
Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Dewey's Aesthetics
Week 14: November 30
Aesthetics III: Perception & Embodiment
Required:
Jonathan Sterne, "Audible Technique
and Media," The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction,
Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003: 137-177.<
Michael Taussig, "Physiognomic
Aspects of Visual Worlds," in Lucien Taylor (ed.), Visualizing Theory:
Selected Essays from V.A.R. 1990-1994, New York and London: Routledge,
1994: 205-213.
Torben
Grodal, "Stories for the Eye, Ear, and Muscles: Video Games, Media, and
Embodied Experiences," in The Video Game Theory Reader, Mark J. P.
Wolf, and Bernard Perron (eds.), New York: Routledge, 2003:
129-155.
Recommended:
Hans
Belting, "Image, Medium, Body: A New Approach to Iconology," Critical
Inquiry, vol 31 (Winter 2005): 302-319.
Bernadette
Wegenstein, "The Medium is the Body," Getting Under the Skin: Body and
Media Theory, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006:
119-162.
Listen: "Around
the World On The Phonograph" Thomas Edison (1888)
"To
President Benjamin Harrison" Lord Stanley (1888)
"The
Electric Light Quadrille" Issler's Orchestra (1889)
"Message
to Posterity" Florence Nightingale (1890)
"Personal
Speech to the Future" P.T. Barnum (1890)
"Campaign
Speech excerpt" Grover Cleveland (1892)
"Columbia
Exposition March" Gilmore's Band (1893)
"The
Star Spangled Banner" U.S. Marine Band (1895)
"Yazoo
Dance" Sousa's Grand Concert Band (1895)
"Speech
to the Republican Convention" William McKinley (1896)
"The Serenade"
Vess L. Ossman (1897)
"Sentiments
on the Cuban Question" Buffalo Bill Cody (1898)
Week 15: December 7
Aesthetics IV: Image, Cinema & Spectacle
Required:
Susan
Sontag,"The Image-World," inOn Photography, New York: Picador, 1973:
153-180.
Gillian Rose,
"Chapter 1," Visual Methods: An Introduction to the Interpretation of
Visual Materials, London: SAGE, 2001, pp.
5-32.
Paul Virilio,
"Cinema isn't I See, it's I Fly," in War and Cinema: The Logistics of
Perception, London: Verso, 1989: 11-30.
Guy
Debord, "The Commodity as Spectacle," reprinted in Meenakshi Gigi Durham and
Douglas M. Kellner, Eds., Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks, Rev.
Ed., Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001: 139-143.
Watch: Laurie AndersonSpending the War Without You: The City, The Fifth Norton Lecture, Mehindra Humanities Center, Harvard University, December 1, 2021, 79 min.
Watch: Guy Debord, La
Société du Spectacle (1973), 88 min.
Recommended:
Guy Dubord, The Society of Spectacle, Rebel Press, 1967.
Jean Baudrillard, Simulations, Semitext[e], 1983.
FINAL PAPER/PROJECT DUE: December 14
Submit (electronically) Final Paper/Projects Due by 8pm ET, Tuesday, December 14.
