I will attempt to describe McLaren based on the first seven minutes of his film, "Welcome" that I saw today. I have not looked at any reference, I have not googled him up before commenting on this work. In fact, I do not know if the name of the film is actually "Welcome!" I have simply decided to do this so I can evaluate my understanding of McLaren's work as I go through my study. Perhaps I can get to understand McLaren as a proponent of technology use, back in the day. Perhaps I will see technology now and in the future if I could see what McLaren saw when he created the film. Then I will come back and correct my perceptions, ...ah perceptions! The Innis Mode! I cannot bask in a point of view but to seek a deeper and greater understanding and knowledge as I dissect "smaller pieces" of McLaren's work to gain insight into how they interrelate with themselves back then, connect with today's technology and what understanding and insights this gives me into understanding future technology.
McLaren spoke of technology in "Welcome" as inappropriate - the medium by which you pass a passionate message may not necessarily be the best tool to do so. Technology as unsuitable and non dominant in telling "how much" (quantity) and "how much" (quality) one can actually convey. Technology may be limiting but also enabling at the same time. Technology may not be as complex as we make it to be. It may also not be sufficient to do what we intend to as we patch it up with all sorts of inappropriate solutions and try to make it work. On the overall, it may lead to a better technology but we may never be able to discover that until we have failed at some previous attempt at appropriating technology. Technology grows and becomes better when we make several attempts at it. A nip here, a tweak there and we may arrive at 'a' solution. Yet, that could be the basis of something more appropriate to come - a tip of the iceberg. McLaren says, there is no end to technology as it constantly evolves and calls for invention. There is no end to evolution and so will we need to appropriate technology and evolve along side it.
Now I will come back again, revisit this post and hope that what I think about McLaren at first sight remains what he truly was!
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Hey, Ben. Nice look at McLaren through his film. One thing that I thought of when watching this is how the technology became the controller, making McLaren try to retake control without success. It brought to mind a McLuhan quote I came across awhile back "we shape our tools, then afterwards our tools shape us".
ReplyDeleteQuite true Mike. It is amazing when we think about the appropriating force behind some of the tools we have created for use. How enabling they could be at first and how subjected we eventually become to them. It is this revolving servant/master role that describes a scary but utterly unfathomable picture of technology's future and our place in it. Thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteHi Ben,
ReplyDeleteYour comment on the evolution of technology along side of us sums things up well. Also, the comment about perception and the Innis Mode stands out. Perception and meaning making also evolve, yes? McLaren demostrated his final perception of the mic and what meaning it held when he jumped into the screen. He evolved with the technology and moved on (to the screen).