Digital Theory: Theorizing New Media

In the 20th century, society had started to change as a result of modernism and industrialisation. The main concept of modernism is the scientific progression which occurred at the time- "modernism tended to challenge and revolutionise the religious mysticism of the pre-industrial world". (Creeber, 2009, p.11) During the mid 20th century, after the two World Wars, people were sick of light hearted media products such as comedy films that would have done well before the world wars, instead they turned to the likes of Film Noir. Art as well as film suffered a change as modernists "attempted to reflect the chaos and dislocation at the heart of the modernisation process." (Creeber, 2009, p.12) Mass production due to the industrial revolution was a target for modernist's views-as if it was denying any individuality. Henry Ford and his T. Fords were all exact copies- "any colour-as long as it's black". These were the first mass produced item and the idea of the factory line is still apparent today in technology- mobile phones for example. The iPhone 5 comes in black or white, the only way to personalise it is to get some sort of skin or case for it to make it your own. The Frankfurt School however, didn't think that it was just technology or Henry Ford's cars were mass produced to the point of standardisation, they applied it to all forms of media; "...where every television show, film, pulp novel, magazine, and so on were all identical." (Creeber, 2009, p.13)
Mass production led to a consumer society which in turn led to a "service-based economy" rather than a "manufacturing-based" (Creeber, 2009, p.13) This meant it was entirely based on consumption and so the media had a massive part to play in this. Instead of society blindly accepting whatever was given, they were now able to participate in the media. Henry Jenkins mentions this when he talks about convergence culture- "the term participatory culture contrasts with older notions of passive media spectatorship" (Jenkins, 2006, p.3)
However, this term has been the subject to argument- "To declare a system interactive is to endorse it with a magic power" (Espen Aarseth: 1997 p.48 in Creeber, 2009 p.20). 
There is still a lot of speculation with regards to New Media and whether it is all it appears to be, the only thing to do now is wait and watch as it unfolds.  



Bibliography

Creeber, Glen (2009) Digital Theory:Theorizing New Media, Open University Press

Film Noir- http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html

Jenkins, Henry (2006) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press.