A tribute to and a lament for Marshall McLuhan continues. If he had lived Marshall would have been 100 on July 21, 2011. Join me in the countdown to his centennial, and an exploration of more of his observations on the way media work in the electric age in which we live.
Culture
You are living a “gigantic flashback.”
Marshall McLuhan (1970, age 59). Think about it.
“In our time we are reliving at high speed the whole of the human past. As in a speeded-up film, we are traversing all ages, all experience, including the experience of prehistoric man.”
Me (January, 2011, age 58). Is it any wonder you sometimes feel dizzy?
But, as Marshall says, relief is possible. You “can turn it off.”
Cordially, Marshall and Me
Reading:
Marshall McLuhan, Counterblast, 1970, p. 115.
Are you normal?
Marshall McLuhan (1951, age 40). Let me put you at ease.
How often do you shave? What color is your tooth brush? What cigarette do you smoke? What’s your preferred sexual outlet? Worried you won’t measure up? Stop worrying and read the latest Gallop Poll on the subject. After all, that’s what public opinion polls are for. To educate you. Odds are you’ll find you’re just like everyone else. At least that’s the way the smart money’s betting.
Me (January, 2011, age 58). For example.
Do you believe in evolution? Listen to these comforting words.
Are you at ease?
Cordially, Marshall and Me
Reading:
Marshall McLuhan, The Mechanical Bride, 1951, p. 291-92.
It took a while, but the future is here.
Marshall McLuhan (1964, age 52). A prophecy.
“Shortly it [film] will under TV pressure, go into its portable, accessible … phase. Soon everyone will be able to have a small, inexpensive film projector that plays an 8-mm sound cartridge as if on a TV screen.”
Me (January, 2011, age 58). And few will realize things have changed.
Except, of course, for artists. And some of them will not be happy about the change. For example, David Lynch:
Cordially, Marshall and Me
Reading:
Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, 1964, p. 291-92.
The problem with teachers.
Marshall McLuhan (1951, age 40). Americans don’t respect them.
The fundamental problem with American education is that teachers are looked down upon in the community because they have turned down the opportunity to earn the high incomes their education would have allowed them to in the private sector. The assumption is that teachers are weak or anti-American or incompetent.
Me (January, 2011, age 58). So what?
What hope is there for the education of our children if parents view teachers as failures? Here is one teacher’s view of the problem today.
Cordially, Marshall and Me
Reading:
Marshall McLuhan, The Mechanical Bride, 1951, p. 126.
Why do men like Westerns?
Marshall McLuhan (1951, age 40). It’s their security blanket.
The world is changing so fast men are unsure of exactly what their role is. “For millions of such men horse opera presents a reassuringly simple and nondomestic world in which there are no economic problems.”
Me (January, 2011, age 58). The medium as medicine or poison?
In the Western violence is a natural, peaceful, and healthy way to release tension. Here we see clearly what a man’s role is, what he’s got to do, and that when he does it the world is a better place for it. This weekend in Arizona we saw what can happen when an unstable man in the real world takes this kind of role playing for role modeling. The medium must take part of the blame.
Cordially, Marshall and Me
Reading:
Marshall McLuhan, The Mechanical Bride, 1951, p. 156.
Want to understand America today?
Marshall McLuhan (1951, age 40). You need to understand its two grand traditions, the frontier and the home town.
The home town is about society, feeling, home and women. The frontier is about business, action, office and men. And believe me, the two will never meet until they have achieved their greatest opposition!
Me (January, 2011, age 58). Do we still?
In the 1940s McLuhan thought America had divided along the lines of its two great traditions and the best place to see those traditions in action was on Soap Operas (the home town) and Horse Operas or Westerns (the Frontier).
In the 1960s he seemed to be saying that under electric conditions the two were finally meeting. Business and society, feeling and action, home and office, and women and men were now increasingly switching positions, fusing rather than splitting.
Today where are we? On TV the soap opera has given way to the talk show and the western to fantasy and science fiction. Have the two traditions merged or simply reappeared in these genres?
The new home town?
The new frontier?
Albeit with some changes.
Cordially, Marshall and Me
Reading:
Marshall McLuhan, The Mechanical Bride, 1951, p. 156.
Had your dose of nostalgia yet?
Marshall McLuhan (1951, age 40). The faster we go the more we look back.
Societies like ours are profoundly nostalgic. Things change so rapidly “a twenty-five-year-old can get wistful about reminiscences of ten years ago. In such a world the lasting qualities of horse opera with the fringe on top have great appeal.”
Me (January, 2011, age 58). Not surprisingly, the western is back.
After a period of neglect in the popular imagination the western appears to be back. True Grit is doing extremely well at the box office. A change Marshall would not have been surprised to see, nor the continuing popularity of the remake.
- The remake’s trailer
- The original’s trailer
Cordially, Marshall and Me
Reading:
Marshall McLuhan, The Mechanical Bride, 1951, p. 156.
Merry Christmas!
Marshall McLuhan (December 25, 1960, age 49). Everybody!
I feel particularly Christmas-ee today. Corinne’s parents sent us a smashingly swell-elegant crystal drinks tray. It made the trip from Fort Worth, Texas, without a hitch, every surface unscratched and without any extra duty to be paid. It will come in very handy in this the season to be entertaining and celebrating. Also, my book job “The Gutenberg Galaxy” is almost done. I am so wound up I can think of nothing else. The manuscript will go to the publishers the day after tomorrow. And on that very day I begin writing this other book on media after Gutenberg which has been on my mind. I’ve spent the last 20 years reading, it seems only right that I put out some things of my own. Without Corinne’s help in typing and discussing the ideas swirling around me, I don’t know where I’d be.
Me (December, 2010, age 58). And a Happy New Year!
A time to be thankful for all we’ve got and the gifts we’ve been given material and spiritual. Like Marshall without the help of my wife, Debbie, who has posted this blog since its beginning in September 2009 and has encouraged me to make it better, I don’t know where I’d be.
Merry Christmas, Marshall and Me
Reading:
Letters of Marshall McLuhan, 1987, p. 276.
You can learn a lot about a nation …
Marshall McLuhan (1970, age 59). From its sports!
“Games are the mask of the crowd. … Each nation’s popular games project the image of its central dynamism.”
Me (December, 2010, age 58). For example …
This is America:
This is Canada:
This is Britain:
Cordially, Marshall and Me
Reading:
Marshall McLuhan, Culture is Our Business, 1970, p. 118.
Did TV hurt baseball?
Marshall McLuhan (1970, age 59). It is possible …
That baseball’s popularity will ebb and football’s will grow as TV continues to do its work on us. TV and football are tactile. Baseball is visual.
Me (December, 2010, age 58). Really?
This is one of those predictions by McLuhan that at first strike me as crackers, but then when I look for evidence I’m surprised by how much the facts support him. Have a look at the results of this Gallup poll, which shows that since the coming of TV in the late 1940s the popularity of baseball in America has fallen and football has risen.
Cordially, Marshall and Me
Reading:
Marshall McLuhan, Culture is Our Business, 1970, p. 118.