Group M: Chapter 35 & 36

Chapter 35 – The New Languages

Thesis: Print, along with all old languages, including speech has profited enormously from the development of the new media.

• We have found that even though new mediums may be more of a symbol in modern society, old mediums cannot be replaced.
• Each new medium can be looked at as a separate entity – one is not said to be better than another

1. Print

• Print has enhanced our oral culture
• A medium that can be described and only seen in the mind
• Has profited from the development of new media because messages in print can be interpreted through new forms of media, which can then be accessed by wider audiences – this breaks down class barriers that exist within print

2. Radio

• Radio has brought back vital aspects of speech including annunciation, articulation, tone, pitch and clarity
• Aspects of speech that have been emphasized in radio help create radio personality (the listener forms a relationship to the radio personality through familiarity of their voice).

3. Television

• Television combines arts such as language, music, art and dance (only versatile medium)
• Comparisons between television and other mediums:
• The viewer of television is in a more passive state then the reader of print text.
• Aides in the recovery of emotions, gestures, and facial awareness

Chapter 36 – Making Room for TV

Thesis: The introduction of television into the family home was meant to foster togetherness and family unity.

• After the post-war years, the television became to be a representation of family relationships
• Television was both a representation of division and unity in the family - there was tension of trying to balance and harmonize unity in the family home.
• Postwar magazines for housewives were centered on organizing the home in a way that would bring the family together – people were unsure where to put the television
• Replaced the spot of the piano, the fireplace, etc. Eventually families designated a “TV room”
• In the span of roughly four years, television itself became the central figure in the images of the American home
• Advertisements promised domestic bliss through the purchase of a television
• Happy families would sit around in a circle watching TV together
• Both Caucasian and African American families were used in these ads to reach each demographic