Mass media in our 'global village'

Media surrounds us, but mass media is only made possible through technology, such as the Internet and television. It involves certain media that is shown through new technologies and then absorbed by society (the masses).

In contrast to half a century ago, humans in the 21st century have access to unlimited amounts of information. We have discussed it many timesin class: the Internet has changed the world forever. In 1935, long before the Internet and just as the television was making into its way into society, Walter Benjamin wrote, "When the age of mechanical reproduction separated art from its basis in cult, the semblance of its autonomy disappeared forever. The resulting change in the function of art transcended the perspective of the century" (1). What mechanical reproduction has done is take away the aura of an original artwork. Ian made a point in class by looking at the many ways the Mona Lisa can be transformed online, even to the point when it can be reproduced by using a computer paint program. Going to see the Mona Lisa first hand used to be an experience, knowing that what you are witnessing is the only one like it in the world. Today, Da Vinci's masterpiece is known by millions of people worldwide, and of those millions of people perhaps 10% of them actually saw the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. This is the ruthless feat of mass media.

Thirty-odd years later, Marshall McLuhan coined a term that defines civilization in the 21st century: the "global village". He explains it in his 1969 interview with Playboy magazine:

"But the basic thing to remember about the electric media is that they inexorably transform every sense ratio and thus recondition and restructure all our values and institutions. The overhauling of our traditional political system is only one manifestation of the retribalizing process wrought by the electric media, which is turning the planet into a global village" (2).

We are all connected in today's society; McLuhan knew it then, and we know it now. To send information from Canada to China it takes mere seconds, whether it be via email or instant messaging. Postage? Envelopes? Are we still speaking the same language? The "Global Village" is the language of the 21st century, a networked global community filled with information, and surrounded by mass media.

Works Cited

1. Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction."1935. http://academic.evergreen.edu/a/arunc/compmusic/benjamin/benjamin.pdf

2. "The Playboy Interview: Marshall McLuhan.". Mar 1969. 5 Oct 2008. http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~gisle/links/mcluhan/pb.html.