Critical Media Studies

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss an essay by Dina Litovsky, "The Problem of AI Photography is not the Medium, It's the Message." They channel previous discussions on Susan Sontag, Andre Bizan and Jean Baudrillard to talk about the hyper-real, the role of AI in art and photography, and where the boundary between what we consider legitimate and illigitimate may be in contemporary art.

In this episode Mike and Barry take the Baudrillardian grand tour: we visit Disneyland, Los Angeles, Viet Nam, and pause to consider the philosophical significance of the 1972 Watergate break-in. In other words, we discuss “The Precession of Simulacra” by Jean Baudrillard (from “Simulacra and Simulation,” 1981) , the text that introduced readers to the “hyperreal,” the idea that what we call reality is a media construct, a product of the symbol systems that saturate our lives.   We consider how Baudrillard’s ideas are echoed in the texts by Plato, Susan Sontag, and Andre Bazin recently discussed on the CMS podcast, and flash forward to discuss the current furor over ChatGPT and college writing instruction. Along the way, Barry proves beyond any reasonable doubt that he hasn’t read William Blake for a long, long time…

In the “Ontology of the Photographic Image,” Andre Bazin makes the provocative claim that the invention of photography is "clearly the most important event in the history of the plastic arts." At the same time, Bazin questions our naïve faith that the photographic image is just as real as the object that it depicts. He goes on to provide an alternative history of painting and photography, highlighting the ways we value mechanical agency over human creativity. In this episode, Barry and Mike discuss Bazin's essay and also consider how the digitization of images has further altered "the history of the plastic arts." We hope you enjoy it!

Barry and Mike discuss Susan Sontag's essay on photography, exploring the distinction between images and reality. They delve into the influence of Plato's cave allegory, the power of photographs to evoke emotions, the impact of nostalgia, and the implications of our difficulty distinguishing real from represented images in our digital age.

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Jonathan Crary’s book, 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep.  Though there are a few detours, the discussion focuses on two of Crary’s central arguments: the devaluation of sleep, and the human cost of living as a part of the technological spectacle (to borrow a little bit from DeBord).  The discussion goes a little bit long, but we had a really good time talking about this.  We hope you enjoy!

In This episode of the Critical Media Studies podcast we discuss Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle. As the book is aphoristic, rather than trying to address the work as a whole, Barry and Mike look at what Debord means by Spectacle and hone in on a few particular sections (24-28). The focus of this episode settles around the question of whether or not there is a continuity between Debord's mediated society and our own digital mediasphere. We hope you enjoy and welcome any feedback or suggestions.

This discussion delves into Simone Weil's philosophy on attention and its crucial role in meaningful engagement. The speakers examine how distractions in our digital age challenge genuine creativity and deep thought. They critique TikTok's superficial engagement and highlight the importance of selective focus in learning. By connecting Weil's insights with contemporary issues, they advocate for a more deliberate approach to attention that fosters creativity and spiritual richness in our busy lives.

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Byung Chul Han’s “The Burnout Society” with an eye to his discussion of multitasking and the loss of what Han calls “profound boredom.”  The discussion invokes Bernard Steigler’s concept of noesis and Jauques Eleul’s concept of technique as a means of better understanding the spaces of focus and attention in the modern world. 

Barry and Mike pick up their discussion on Raymond Williams’ monograph, Television: Technology and Cultural From. In their previous episode they covered the idea that media technologies are answers to specific problems, rather than inventions looking for applications.  In this episode they discuss how Williams’ ideas fit and clash with Marshal McLuhan’s ideas of media as being self-determining.  In short, they look at whether the tensions between Williams and McLuhan is a case of a terminological incompatibility, or whether the two philosophies of media technologies really do argue for different models and outcomes. 

Barry and Mike begin their discussion of Raymond Williams’ 1974 book, Television.  Their discussion revolves around the question of the place and purpose of media as a social process. The crux of the debate revolves around the question: Is television a solution looking for a problem, or is it, rather, the form that contains both? As a part of this, naturally, they go back to “their dear friend” Marshall McLuhan, who functions as a useful foil in teasing out the threads of possible insights. As always, we hope you enjoy!