Freewriting 5

Terms from Williams' "The Technology and the Society"

In this article, the first chapter of Raymond Williams' Television: Technology and Cultural Form, first published in 1972, Williams examines the cultural effects of the new technology of televison on society, discusses the social history of television, and evaluates the history of uses of television in society.

technological determinism: an account of technology's role in society which argues that when new technology is introduced into society (steam engine, automobile, etc.), its effect on humankind determines new social alterations that change the life and condition of the modern man. In short, "social change is a by-product of technology." Technological determinism views technology as a self-acting force which creates new ways of life.

symptomatic technology: a less determinist view of technological effects on society, the symptomatic view argues that a new technology is the material manifestation of a social change that is either beginning or has already begun. "It then considers particular technologies, or a complex of technologies, as symptoms of change of some other kind. Any particular technology is then as it were a by-product of a social process that is otherwise determined." The symptomatic view of technology is that of a self-acting force which provides materials for new ways of life.

camera obscura: the camera obscura was an optical device which was a key item preceding the development of photography. In the early to mid 1800s it was used as a drawing tool and it is where the modern photographic devices got their name (camera). It was made up of a box (which could be the size of an entire room) with a small hole on one side, through which light would be projected on the opposite wall. The image was projected onto paper and used by the artist to copy with the desired perspective.

broadcasting: the idea of transmitting information via electric wire has existed since the mid 1700s during the birth of the telegraph. By the 1870s a general system of electric telegraphy had been established, and not long after, the telephone became popular. The early development of radio, between 1885 and 1911, was at first created and percieved as an advanced form of telegraphy. The need for these new communication systems were a result of an expanded, mobile, complex society. Each of the preceding, however was only designed for person-to-person communication. The second phase of communication was broadcasting, the foundation for modern radio and television, through which signals could be sent to groups of specific people.

"mass communication": Broadcasting was ideal for the transmission the constantly changing news and background. It was a new and powerful form of social integration available to anyone who owned a radio. Thousands of people in multiple cities could all be the audience to the same broadcast event at the same time. "Masses" has been the new term in the 1800s for "the mob." Many of broadcasting's main uses can be seen as socially, commercially, and at times, politically manipulative. Broadcasting was defined as "mass communication": an abstraction to the characteristic that it was sent out to many people (the "masses"), but to each individual radio or television set. The only developed "mass" use of radio was in Nazi Germany, where the Party organized compulsory public listening groups and the recievers were in the streets.

mobile privitization: The definition of public technology had changed from transportation and public lighting systems to privatized home technology, most notably of course, communications technology. Many households had telephones, radios, some had telegraphs, and with the television soon to follow, a kind of technology which served am at once mobile and home-centered way of living; a form of mobile privitization.

Freewriting 4

Recently my cousin, who is a senior in high school, borrowed The Great Gatsby from me night for his english class while I was watching Frank Miller's Sin City. I remembered reading it in high school, for the same teacher, and thoroughly enjoying the recount of jazz-age culture and the American dream, but have never seen the movie. I was then struck with an intriguing idea. I have always been a fan of comic books, especially Marvel's Spider-Man and X-Men, both of which also were made into Saturday morning cartoon shows when i was a kid and are major blockbuster movies today. These comic book stories have emulated just about every form of media, including several video games. I would imagine there are several book versions of these sagas, as well. What if the same could occur with an older form of media? Would The Great Gatsby work as a graphic novel like Frank Miller's Sin City?





Sin City, Frank Miller´s original collection of gothic graphic novels, has become widely known in pop culture since the major movie bearing the same name was released. Miller directed the movie, and has been in the comic book industry since 1978, getting hist first work publishing The Twilight Zone for Gold Key Comics. He is best known for his work on Daredevil and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (which influenced Tim Burton´s Batman) in the 80s, and of course, Sin City in the 90s.



Some notable characteristics of Sin City are its gothic coloring style, it's violence, and its depiction of evil and corruption. The only colors used in Sin City are black and white, and sometimes red for emphasis on blood or a woman's dress. Since it's always dark in Sin City, there's usually much more black on the page than white.
My comic book version of The Great Gatsby would be very different in its coloring style and amount of physical violence, but would be equally powerful in its communication of the corruption of the American dream. Since much of Gatsby takes place in suburban, high-society scenes, the scenery would be much brighter. I, like Miller, would only use black and white to illustrate the book, with the occasional blue or red for emphasis. There would really only be two violent scenes in the book in which I would use red: on Gatsby's car following Myrtle's death and the murder of Gatsby.