SNEAK PREVIEW
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THIRD EDITION
Edited by Barry Vacker Temple University Bassim Hamadeh, CEO and Publisher John Remington, Executive Editor Carrie Montoya, Manager, Revisions and Author Care Kaela Marting, Project Editor Alia Bales, Production Editor Jess Estrella, Senior Graphic Designer Alexa Lucido, Licesning Supervisor Natalie Piccotti, Director of Marketing Kassie Graves, Vice President of Editorial Jamie Giganti, Director of Academic Publishing
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ISBN: 978-1-5165-2110-4 (pbk) / 978-1-5165-2111-1 (br) Acknowledgments xi CONTENTS
Introduction 1
ONE Four Media Models
Chapter 1: The Meme 9
The Nature of Infection 16 Douglas Rushkoff
Memes 22 Richard Brodie
Chapter 2: The Global Village 27
A Dialogue 34 Marshall McLuhan
Hot and Cool in the Media(S)cene 37 Julia M. Hildebrand and Barry Vacker
Chapter 3: The Spectacle and Hyperreality 51
The Age of Show Business 62 Neil Postman
Media Culture and the Triumph of the Spectacle 68 Douglas Kellner
The Precession of Simulacra 80 Jean Baudrillard
TWO Media and Culture
Chapter 4: News and Celebrities 87
Welcome to the Infotainment Freak Show 98 Marty Kaplan Answering/The Big Question 103 Ellis Cashmore
Chapter 5: Social and Mobile Media 117
Mobile Media Life 122 Mark Deuze
Discovering the @World by #Flashpacking 130 Julia M. Hildebrand CONTENTS Chapter 6: Surveillance and Freedom 137
“Surveil Ordinary Citizens” and “Infiltrate Citizens’ Groups” 158 Naomi Wolf
Surveillance Environments: Google and Facebook 166 Jan Fernback
“Consent and Sovereignty” and “Building a Netizen-centric Internet” 173 Rebecca MacKinnon
Chapter 7: Capitalism and Counterculture 187
Globalization and the Restructuring of Capital 198 Steven Best and Douglas Kellner
“The Revolutionary Impulse” and “Demarketing Loops” 204 Kalle Lasn
THREE Our Species, Planet, and Cosmos
Chapter 8: Gaia and the Anthropocene 217
What Mark Will We Leave on the Planet? 223 Jan Zalasiewicz
Hollywood and Climate Change 231 Stephen Rust How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction 244 CONTENTS Annalee Newitz
Chapter 9: Media, Science, and the Universe 251
Mapping the Milky Way Galaxy 267 Brian Cox
Science and Hope 273 Carl Sagan
“Explosion of Awareness”: Kubrick, Nietzsche, Hubble, and the Starting Points for a 21st Century Philosophy 279 Barry Vacker
Chapter 10: Possible Media Futures 289
Avengers in the Void: Nietzsche, Nihilism, and Why We Need Superheroes 304 Abigail Moore
Our Future? Star Trek or Not? 315 Stephen Hawking
Black Mirrors, Hot Media, and Spectral Existence: Our Only Future? 319 Barry Vacker and Erin Espelie
Index 329
Media Index 337 RECOMMENDED FILMS ONE Four Media Models
Chapter 1: The Meme Arrival 2016 The Hunger Games 2012 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 2013 A Face in the Crowd 1957 Network 1976 Pulp Fiction 1994 Memento 2000 Waking Life 2001 Whatever Works 2009 Cave of Forgotten Dreams 2010
Chapter 2: The Global Village The Circle 2017 Black Mirror 2011– The Fifth Estate 2013 Hackers 1995 The Matrix 1999 TRON: Legacy 2010
Chapter 3: The Spectacle and Hyperreality The Spectacle Network 1976 Money Monster 2016 Ace in the Hole 1951 A Face in the Crowd 1957 Privilege 1967 Quiz Show 1994 Slumdog Millionaire 2008 Invictus 2009 No 2012 The Hunger Games 2012 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 2013 PoliWood doc 2009 The Hyperreal Black Mirror 2011– The Incredibles 2 2018 Ready Player One 2018 The Matrix 1999 The Truman Show 1998 eXistenZ 1999 Vanilla Sky 2001 Her 2013 Westworld 2016–
** The editor’s recommended films are listed first for each chapter. TWO Media and Culture
Chapter 4: News and Celebrities News The Post 2017 Ace in the Hole 1951 All the President’s Men 1976 Network 1976 Broadcast News 1987 Wag the Dog 1997 The Insider 1999 Good Night, and Good Luck 2005 Celebrity Quiz Show 1994 The Hunger Games 2012 A Face in the Crowd 1957 Privilege 1967 To Die For 1995 Celebrity 1998 Almost Famous 2000 S1m0ne 2002 Frost/Nixon 2008
RECOMMENDED FILMS Chapter 5: Social and Mobile Media Black Mirror 2011– Her 2013 The Circle 2017 The Social Network 2010 You’ve Got Mail 1998
Chapter 6: Surveillance and Freedom The Circle 2017 Black Mirror 2011– The Incredibles 2 2018 The Fifth Estate 2013 V for Vendetta 2005 The Matrix 1999 Minority Report 2002 Fahrenheit 451 1966 1984 1984 Enemy of the State 1998 The Lives of Others 2006 TRON: Legacy 2010 Terms and Conditions May Apply doc 2013 RECOMMENDED FILMS Chapter 7: Capitalism and Counterculture Fight Club 1999 The Hunger Games 2012 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 2013 Week-End 1967 Pirates of Silicon Valley 1999 V for Vendetta 2005 The Social Network 2010 No 2012
THREE Our Species, Planet, and Cosmos
Chapter 8: Gaia and The Anthropocene Wall-e 2008 Interstellar 2014 The China Syndrome 1979 The Day After Tomorrow 2004 An Inconvenient Truth doc 2006 Avatar 2009 Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch doc 2013
Chapter 9: Media, Science, and the Universe Gravity 2013 Contact 1997 Interstellar 2014 Agora 2009 Cosmos: A Spacetime Journey doc 2014 Powers of Ten doc 1968 Cosmic Voyage doc 1996 The Known Universe doc 2009 Nostalgia for the Light doc 2010 Wonders of the Universe doc 2011
Chapter 10: Possible Media Futures Black Mirror 2011– Tomorrowland 2015 Black Panther 2018 Blade Runner 2049 2017 Fight Club 1999 Arrival 2016 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 2013 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 Blade Runner 1982 Ghost in the Shell 1995 Akira 1998 Star Trek 2009 The Walking Dead 2010– Inception 2010 Her 2013 RECOMMENDED FILMS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
s with any textbook, this anthology would not have been possible A without the efforts of many people. My thanks: To Johanna Marcelino, the acquisitions editor at Cognella who initially approached me about doing an “innovative” anthology. To be honest, I was very skeptical about her interest because virtually all textbook publishers are ultraconservative in their approach and meth- odologies. That is why the media and society textbooks have hardly changed in style and structure over the past forty years, despite the proliferation of media in our culture. Much to my surprise, Johanna im- mediately grasped the essence of my vision for this volume and paved the way for the first edition of this book to happen. Thanks for getting it, Johanna! To Carrie Montoya (revisions acquisitions editor) and Kaela Martin (project editor) at Cognella, who saw the merits in a revised and up- dated third edition of this book and were a pleasure to work with on this edition. To Jess Estrella and Miguel Macias, the designers at Cognella who made the cover and interior design look so great. Thank you for making it all work together. To Luiz Ferreira and Alexa Lucido at Cognella, who negotiated all the licensing agreements with the variety of publishers and authors. To all my colleagues in the Klein College of Media and Communi cations and the Department of Media Studies and Production at Temple University: thanks to all of you who shared your ideas and offered useful suggestions for improving this anthology concept, especially Jan Fernback and Sherri Hope Culver. Thanks to Senior Vice Provost Elizabeth Leebron Tutelman for providing me with the opportunity to teach so many of the large lecture courses in media theory at Temple and for supporting my experiments with different teaching styles and methods in these classes. Thanks to Paul Swann, Matthew Lombard, Nancy Morris, and Pamela Barnett, all of whom provided helpful
xi xii | Media Environments
feedback for teaching large and small theory-based invaluable in helping me navigate the complexities of courses. Thanks to everyone! this project. To Julia Hildebrand and Angela Cirucci for sharing To all the teaching assistants and undergraduate their valuable insights about teaching with this book. students in my courses for your enthusiastic responses To Sheryl Kantrowitz for designing the posters for to the ideas of the films and readings that prove the the Media(S)cene essay used in Chapter 2. educational thesis of this book. To Jarice Hanson at the University of Massachusetts Finally, my thanks go to the many filmmakers and Amherst for sharing many ideas and insights during our writers included in this anthology. Their knowledge and numerous conversations. artistry have furthered our understanding of the evolu- To Gail Bower for her enthusiastic support of this tion and effects of the global media environments. We anthology. Your patience and thoughtful advice was all see further because of their visions.
COLBY CHASE served as the research assistant for this book. She received her M.A. in Media Studies from Temple University and her B.A. in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her research explores the effects of the consolidation of media ownership, as well as the commercialization of counter-cultural movements. We become what we behold.
Marshall McLuhan INTRODUCTION
lack Mirror and Blade Runner 2049—a hit TV anthology and B a Hollywood blockbuster sequel. Set in the near future, both are works of science fiction that offer striking visions of our species immersed in the 24/7 media environments that surround our planet, permeate our society, and transform our consciousness. No one is immune to the cognitive and cultural effects of the technologies—not you, not your professor, not your fans, friends, or followers. Like all species that have ever existed on Earth, we have adapted to our environments, the technological and cultural environments of human civilization in the twenty-first century. As the most advanced species on our planet, we have created radically new environments for living together—the electrified, mechanized, and mediated metropolises we inhabit and share on a daily basis. We have migrated from nature to culture. Like nature, our cities, towns, and suburbs are always evolv- ing and changing, yet we exist within these technological and cultural environments and stay busy adapting to what our species has created. Once we grasp these existential conditions, then we can truly begin to understand the role of media in our society and our daily lives. Black Mirror (2011–) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) are powerful examples of storytelling and visual art, each dramatizing key issues involving media, technology, and society while providing warnings of plausible futures for life in the mediated metropolis. By setting the stories in the future, the artists’ goal is to allow us to think more clearly about where we are going today, individually as humans and collec- tively as a species. Though made primarily for television, Black Mirror’s episodes are more like short films, each varying in length, with unique storylines. The episodes provide science fiction scenarios delving into how our beliefs and behaviors are being shaped by the current array of media technologies and how they might develop and function in the future—a future to come in five years or five minutes. Of course, films about media and society are not limited to science fiction. Most recently, films like The Circle (2017) and Money Monster (2016) examine the effects of media and media technology on daily life while posing questions about surveillance, celebrity, entertainment, by Barry Vacker by 1 2 | Media Environments
artificial intelligence, economic power, and our electron- Collectively, these and other films survey how are we ic-digital financial systems. Meanwhile, The Post (2017) using and adapting to our media technologies, many of looked at the recent past, showcasing the role of the which seem to be evolving at ever-accelerating rates press in the Pentagon Papers scandal, which showed in the twenty-first century. Are our media technologies how US presidents and the Pentagon lied to the functioning more to bring us together as a peaceful and American public about the war in Vietnam. In contrast, enlightened species? Or are social media turning us Arrival (2016) offers a sci-fi venture into a possible future, into tweeting tribes inhabiting echo chambers? What cleverly showing how the roles of media and language role do the media and technology corporations play in might impact humanity’s encounter with peaceful extra- our society—Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Disney, terrestrials. Though set in the past and the future, The Amazon, Comcast, Time-Warner, News Corporation? Post and Arrival also offer insights about today’s world, What about freedom, privacy, consumerism, celebrities, raising questions about truth, democracy, freedom of surveillance, sports stars, superheroes, social media, the press, political power, mass opinion, and tribalism mobile media, fake news, and artificial intelligence such and nationalism. Even the James Bond film Spectre as Siri and Alexa? And what about the other environ- (2015) raises profound questions about surveillance ments we inhabit—the ecosystems of planet Earth? and security in our mediated democratic societies. What about science, telescopes, and knowing our true The point here is that movies need not be mere place in the universe? entertainment. The use of movies to investigate media These are some of the topics and questions ex- and society is not new. His Girl Friday (1939) and Meet plored in Media Environments. The most important thing John Doe (1941) show that movies have long attempted is not that you love or hate any of the films mentioned to offer insight and criticism about the increasing role or discussed in this book but that you understand what of media in society. Such efforts continued across the they are saying about your world—a world lived inside decades with Ace in the Hole (1951), A Face in the Crowd 24/7 media environments. (1957), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Network (1976), The China Syndrome (1979), Videodrome (1983), Quiz Show (1994), The Central Idea of This Book: Contact (1997), The Truman Show (1998), The Matrix (1999), The Insider (1999), V for Vendetta (2005), Good Combining Movies and Texts to Night, and Good Luck (2005), WALL-E (2008), The Social Critique Media and Society Network (2010), Her (2013), The Fifth Estate (2013), The Hunger Games series (2012–2015), Ready Player One (2018), and many others. No doubt future filmmakers Media Environments is based on a simple concept: com- will continue such efforts. bine movies with texts to critique media and society. If Introduction | 3
you are a student, you might be thinking: “Cool. This an option); rather, we hope that professors will choose will be a fun class.” But remember, you are reading this the films that they believe best align with the readings. in a book. If you are a professor, you might be thinking: Each introduction and essay provides plenty of issues “Oh, no! More edutainment!” But like the students, you to discuss within the chapter topic. are reading this in a book packed with critical theory. The idea is to use the movies to introduce students to critical thinking about media and society. The process Four Media Models is simple: The first three chapters provide “models” for under- standing media and society. By model, we mean a • View the film (or major scenes from the film) that smaller thing to explain the larger thing that is difficult goes with the chapter. to see or too large grasp. For example, no one has ever • Read the introduction and essays in the chapter. seen the solar system as a totality, but we know how it • Then discuss the film and readings together in looks and works via models. No one has seen all the class. data in a DNA molecule, but we know how it looks from the helix model. Simply put, a model is something small It’s that simple. Entertainment and enlightenment scale that explains the large scale, the micro that ex- do not have to be in opposition, though they surely are plains the macro. For this book, we will use four media in most of popular culture. “Fun” and “critical thinking” models: the meme, the global village, the spectacle, can coexist in a classroom. Art and theory can work and hyperreality. together to enlighten and educate in ways that are These four models can then be applied across a va- entertaining and empowering. riety of topics covered in the remaining seven chapters. Most of the recommended media films are fictional, Once you grasp each model (or concept), you will have though there are some documentaries listed that are a much deeper understanding of media, technology, also artful and creatively produced. In our view, the art- society, and why you believe what you believe. And ful fictional or documentary film is more powerful than a richer, deeper understanding of things is central to the standard “talking head” documentary. Of course, higher education in universities around the world. we are not saying that every fictional film on the list is a masterpiece. What we are saying is that the combi- Educational Goals nation of films and texts provides a way to creatively and critically map the “environments” of media—the The goal of Media Environments is to inspire you to mental, material, and cultural environments. The aim think creatively and critically based on a broad cultural is not to watch all the films (although that certainly is literacy that includes media and society, theory and 4 | Media Environments
technology, and the arts and sciences. Critical thinking everything in this book immediately. Our beliefs and and cultural literacy require learning at a deeper level, worldviews are woven deeply into our neurons, and it beyond the latest media trends and techno-gizmo, and is not easy to “change” the beliefs of anyone, including being open to exploring the wider range of patterns in you or your fellow students. So I do not assume the technological and cultural evolution. Such thinking also readings in the book will transform your consciousness requires examining our own beliefs and our place in the or change your mind about anything. Though this book universe as revealed by media technologies. presents many great ideas to empower you in your use We live in a 24/7, online, omnipresent, globally and understanding of media, the only person who can networked media universe. Virtually all media technolo- change your beliefs is you. At the end of the semester, gies, industries, content, and usages have converged you might have the exact same beliefs as before. to shape consciousness and culture as technological Since there is no way to cover the entirety of the environments. Media-as-environments is the existential theories and effects of media in society, disagreement reality of the twenty-first century. Rather than examine with something in the book is likely. That’s natural. the media as separate industries (newspapers, radio, Understanding is the key. As with everything in this television, etc.), Media Environments explores these book, you can agree or disagree with what is discussed media in their totality and provides models for under- in the following readings. That’s your choice. If you standing and interrogating many universal themes that disagree, there are two things you should do: 1) make span media and global culture. These topics are highly sure you have a thorough understanding of that claim interdisciplinary, situating media theory and media ef- or theory with which you disagree; and 2) make sure fects within the realms of science, philosophy, aesthet- your alternative claim or media theory correlates to em- ics, and cultural studies. That is why we combined art pirical reality, embraces verifiable evidence, expresses (movies) with theory and science: precisely because consistent logic, and applies universally as much as we need a mix of the arts, sciences, and humanities to possible. That makes for great class discussions and better understand the world. helps enlighten everyone. Plus, that is how knowledge adapts and evolves. Understanding and Disagreement The Evolution of Our Knowledge The goal of this book is to generate understanding, not necessarily universal agreement among all read- This anthology presents you with new theory to better ers, students, or professors. It would be incredibly explain the conditions created by our media environ- arrogant on my part to assume everyone should believe ments. All our knowledge and understanding should be Introduction | 5 Universal Themes: DNA thought of as contextual and evolutionary, not timeless or static. What we know may be subject to revision and the Most Common when presented with new facts, new conditions, or new Elements in the Cosmos theories. That science and theory evolve is their virtue and need not imply naive relativism. That this is the The aim of this book is to provide you with a grand nar- third edition of Media Environments shows this book has rative for living in media environments, with the purpose evolved. The four media models were present in the first of uniting your fellow students and you in discourse of edition (though “the network” is now called “the global intellectual topics that span cultures and demograph- village”), but many new readings have been added to ics. Of course, there are media and social issues involv- the areas of social and mobile media, surveillance and ing class, gender, ethnicity, identity, and sexuality. As freedom, media and ecology, science and the universe, history has shown, these issues are very important and and possible media futures. That’s how knowledge and deserve to be studied. In fact, these issues are studied theory evolve in books, minds, and culture. and analyzed in numerous college courses. By our very nature, we are not omniscient beings. Rather than echo these approaches, Media That’s okay! Certainty and uncertainty are both part Environments seeks to explore themes and issues that of our lives. Our methods of knowing have natural are universal to students, media, and society in the limits, but those limits are set only by our cognitive twenty-first century. Why universal themes? Because evolution and the physical universe. Our knowledge is no matter how many tribes we split into, humans remain always evolving and open-ended. If our knowledge and a single species. All humans share 99.9% of the same “certainty” mean the complete grasp of all facts or all DNA, and the most common elements in our bodies— possible theories, then we are left with the false alterna- hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon—are among tive of being either omniscient gods or ignorant fools. the most common elements in the cosmos. If we share That choice is a no-win scenario. From the fact that we that much together as humans in the universe, then we cannot know everything, it does not follow that we do surely share some universal themes about media and not understand anything—that we are not gods does society. not mean we are fools. Let’s begin.
** Chapter introductions throughout this book were authored by Barry Vacker, except where noted. SECTION ONE
The Matrix is everywhere.
It is all around us. Morpheus The Matrix 1999 FOUR MEDIAMODELS
1. The Meme
2. The Global Village
3. The Spectacle and Hyperreality Ace in the Hole (1951) “The curse of the seven vultures” Fight Club (1999) is a newspaper headline that sets “The rst rule of off a national media spectacle A Face in the Crowd (1957) Fight Club is, you about a man trapped in a cave. “I’m gonna be a free man in the do not talk about morning,” sings Lonesome Rhodes, Fight Club,” as he draws in huge audiences to commands Tyler Durden to his (1976) buy his pop music and vote for Network “space monkeys,” “We’re mad as hell and we’re his presidential candidates. who want to not gonna take this anymore!” overthrow yell the followers of Howard consumerism, Beale. They shout this out Famous Memes in capitalism, and their windows and collectively the modern world. in TV studios, thus showing the viral power of the media Classic Media Movies spectacle. Arrival (2016) The circular symbols of The Hunger Games (2012) the alien language baf e “Katniss” and the “three- nger salute” are beautiful and quickly become symbols to rally the citizens of Panem. become memes online. 1. THE MEME
Are You a Master of Your Destiny?
Gaga, Beyoncé, Batman, Katniss, LeBron, Zuckerberg—all “names” that have spread like viral videos, passed along from fan to fan via face-to-face conversation or social media and the Internet. Whether the person is fictional (Batman) or real (Beyoncé), the fact that they are universally known only by a single name attests to their power to attract fans, followers, and critics. What makes some movies and pop stars become so popular and attract so many fans? After all, Gaga and Beyoncé are among the top-selling singers of all time, and Batman is one of the legions of superheroes ringing up dollars at the box office. Mark Zuckerberg is famous and wealthy because of the popularity of Facebook. And LeBron is certainly one of the very best NBA players of all time, likely right behind Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan—if that ranking hits your hot button, welcome to the power of memes! By memes, we’re not talking about cat videos and “Internet memes.” We’re referring to the original and deeper meaning of memes. In sum- mary, a meme is any idea, belief, or behavior that can be copied and passed along. That’s right: everything you know and believe about the world are memes, as are all your clothes, hairstyles, and favorite music, movies, and sports teams.
Our Greatest Achievement Here’s a meme for you: the big bang. You might immediately think of The Big Bang Theory, the hit sitcom that has aired for eleven seasons (so far). It’s often a funny show, but I’m referring to the “big bang” referenced in the opening stanza of The Big Bang Theory’s theme song:
Our whole universe was in a hot, dense state Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started, wait The earth began to cool, the autotrophs began to drool Neanderthals developed tools … Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries That all started with the big bang! Hey! 9 10 | Media Environments
It’s true the observable universe began expanding from to better care for our planet and the animals we share a hot, dense state in a small region of space-time about it with. 13.7 billion years ago. We don’t know why or what We know all of this not merely because of science existed before, but we know the observable universe but also because of the power of our media technolo- stretches across 100 billion light years and contains two gies: telescopes, microscopes, cameras, computers, trillion galaxies, each with billions of stars and untold and so on. If you think of media technologies as merely numbers of planets, black holes, and possible life smartphones and tablets to use for social media, then forms. Our knowledge of this immense universe began you are missing the big picture role of media technolo- with the telescope, perhaps the most important media gies. Media technologies can surely let us pretend to technology of all time, precisely because it removed us be the center of everything, which is the way it seems, from the center of the universe. with our Apple iPhones and Samsung Galaxies—names From Galileo’s telescope to the Hubble Space that suggest our personal cosmic centrality. But media Telescope, our media technologies empower us to technologies also do much more. peer across the depths of the universe to discover our Media technologies are how we orient ourselves in true place in the universe. Our discovery of humanity’s space and time, how we understand our origins and cosmic origins might be our greatest achievement as destiny, and how we share art and knowledge around a species—through our media technologies, we have the world. Media technology is also how we discover discovered a vast and majestic universe in which we are which pop stars we follow or which new restaurant we utterly insignificant. That’s a meme that’s both empow- might dine at tonight. Media technologies are the most ering and humbling. powerful way that memes spread, from art and science, The telescope was the “big bang” that knocked us to music and fashion, to media studies and planetary off center stage, forcing us to rethink our origins and civilization. Media technologies can surely entertain, but destiny by showing we’re not the center of everything, they can also empower and enlighten, but only if we not the center of the universe. The big bang and our choose to use the media for such purposes. noncentrality are memes still shaking our world, be- Why are you a fan of Beyoncé, LeBron, or any other cause our species still seems in denial, almost always pop or sports star? Why are you a fan of the local sports acting like it’s the center of all meaning, value, and team? Why do you use social media sites? How did you purpose. Look at how we’ve trashed our planet while come to know of The Big Bang Theory, The Incredibles, causing so many species to go extinct. or Avengers: Infinity War? What do you believe about the world, the universe, the role of media in human exis- Memes and Media Technology tence? Where did you get those beliefs? Do you know those beliefs to be true, or are you just going along with We are brainy but tiny, creative and curious but also nar- your parents, friends, and favorite tribes in society? cissistic, and we deeply yearn for meaning in our lives. Think it over. We might be irrelevant to the universe, yet we are one Can you say you consciously chose those beliefs? way the universe is aware of itself in a suburb of the Milky Or did the beliefs choose you? That may sound like a Way. That’s a cool and profound meme, if you take time strange question, but it is not. It is based on a very pow- to think about it. Try it. erful idea. Maybe the ideas and messages in the media We exist as part of the cosmos and share a tiny replicate like genes and spread like a virus, face-to-face planet with millions of other species. As mentioned in or via our media technologies. Can activities, beliefs, the Introduction chapter, we share 99.5% of the same and worldviews be thought of as contagions passed DNA and are made of the most common elements of among minds? Douglas Rushkoff and Richard Brodie the universe. We are one species, sharing one planet, explain this possibility in the first chapter. The spread of in a beautiful and awe-inspiring universe. That’s a very information like a virus (via media) is depicted in several profound and powerful meme, too. It should inspire us classic media films discussed in this book. 1. The Meme | 11
Of course, memes are not new. They go back to Did you actively choose to become a “fan” of the beginning of human language and art. Some of the something or someone—let’s say Lady Gaga—on early origins of memes in culture can be seen in Werner Facebook, or did it seem as if the Lady Gaga fan Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams, in which humans club chose you? use art to create representations (or copies) of the world • Did you find Twitter, or did Twitter find you? Did external to our consciousness. And memes explain how you actively choose to become a follower, or did ideas, thoughts, beliefs, ideologies, and worldviews the Twitter followers find you? spread via media and culture. • Did you choose to find that viral video on YouTube, or did it seem as if the viral video found you? How Memes Spread to Of course, these questions are rhetorical, yet they Your Consciousness are meant to be seriously thought-provoking at the same time. It is likely that you “found” Facebook, Twitter, Consider the 2016 science fiction film Arrival, in which and YouTube through a friend, long before your parents peaceful extraterrestrials arrive on Earth seeking to and grandparents ever heard of them. Once you found communicate with humans. Their language—when them, they were easy to use because it was easy to converted to symbols for humans to see and “read”— imitate what others were doing in these communities. takes the form of complex patterns based on circles. That is why these communities grew so quickly. As of Humans have never seen these forms of language but 2018, Facebook had 2.3 billion users, exceeding one- must decode them to communicate with the extrater- fourth of the world’s population. Consider that some restrials. The aliens’ language is a new meme that must music videos on YouTube have been viewed billions be understood and then replicated among humans for of times, often within a relatively short time frame. The the communication to occur. Among the several things current YouTube champ is Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito,” about media and society to learn from Arrival, here are with 5.5 billion views. How these sites attain popularity three: 1) art and language are media technologies; 2) and how you found and use these sites raise questions language is a meme that replicates and carries the about the spread of ideas and beliefs via the networks means of communication among advanced beings; 3) of our media and culture. clear communication is needed for peaceful coopera- Let’s extend our analysis to sports teams and fans. tion among species, peoples, and nations. Just as the If you are a fan of a certain American football team, why heroic professors (played by Amy Adams and Jeremy are you a fan of that football team? Is it because they Renner) learned how to communicate in the new lan- are intrinsically superior to all other football teams? guage of the aliens in Arrival, you learned how to com- If so, your team would never lose a game or fire its municate on Facebook, Twitter, and various other social coach. More likely, you are a fan because of sheer media. Though easier to learn than the alien language, chance rather than pure choice. Maybe your fan prefer- social media are new forms of communication that you ences were determined by where you were born and/or learned and then adapted to. Like the extraterrestrials raised by your parents; perhaps you grew up in a city finding humans inArrival , I’m pretty sure social media that has a professional football team, such as Dallas, found you on the Internet. That’s how memes work. Philadelphia, or San Francisco. If you grew up in China, They find you. it is likely you don’t have allegiances to any American Facebook has friends and fans, Twitter has followers, football team, or maybe you couldn’t care less. Choice and YouTube has viral videos. Let’s think about these comes into the matter a little more if you chose to at- popular online communities by asking some questions: tend a college with a prominent football team, such as the University of Texas, Ohio State, or the University of • Did you find Facebook, or did Facebook find you? Southern California. But you might be a fan of college Was it through the recommendation of a “friend?” teams due to chance, just because you were born or 12 | Media Environments
raised nearby. Mostly, but not always, fan preferences “Super” games and “championships” are attractive and are products of chance more than choice. Sports “fans” seductive, as are game-winning plays, heroic quarter- are perfect examples of how memes can colonize hu- backs, and glamorous cheerleaders. The spectacle of man consciousness to shape beliefs, elicit behaviors, televised sports is part of the world symbolically illus- and generate undying love and reverence. trated in The Hunger Games films. Of course, some teams, such as the Dallas Cowboys So, did you consciously choose to be a fan because and New York Yankees, find fans outside their regional of the unique virtues of your team? Be honest. Or is areas. They develop mystiques or followings because your preference the product of chance (your parents of their success, meaning they win much more often and where you were born), the team, and the media, than they lose. Well, the Cowboys used to be winners, all of which combine in trying to choose you to be a but they still have many loyal fans across America. fan? As for me, I inherited the meme of where my father Thus, they are on television more often. went to college—The University of Texas at Austin. The meaning is simple: when teams win, they get That’s where I went to graduate school. So it seems more fans. Breathless sportscasters remind us that natural to me that my favorite college team is the Texas momentum changes, but winning is contagious! Being a Longhorns, the team we watched on TV while living in fan looks like fun, except when your team loses. That’s Austin and the suburbs of the Dallas area. But if my why cities like Cleveland and Philadelphia erupted in joy father had chosen another university, my favorite team when their teams won the NBA and NFL titles, respec- might be different. That’s why, as a professor of media tively. Winning beats losing. studies, I realize my fandom is, in part, random. It’s a Teams and fans have identifying slogans and region- mix of chance and choice. Mostly chance. al nicknames, such as “How ’bout them Cowboys?” Much like your fan preferences, many of your ideas for the Dallas Cowboys and “Hook ’em Horns” for the and beliefs may have been passed down to you from Texas Longhorns. Fans often wear their team’s logos your parents. Political, philosophical, and, especially, or jerseys. Imitation is flattery, and it is easy to do. I religious beliefs strongly correlate to your parents’ be- live in downtown Philadelphia, and when the Eagles liefs and/or the area, nation, or region of the world won the 2018 Super Bowl, the celebration parade in which you were born. Simply put, those religious drew almost two million fans, all wearing green Eagles followers born in North America are more likely to be jerseys, sweaters, and hoodies on the chilly day. From Christian, while those born in the Middle East are more the balcony of my loft on the parade route, I watched likely to be Muslim, and those born in Asia are more the joyous fans stream in from every street; it looked likely to be Buddhist or Hindu. This means your beliefs like a species migration one might see on the National and worldview are more likely the product of chance Geographic Channel. than your personal conscious choice. Just like teams Cities and colleges build magnificent stadia, which need fans and TV needs viewers, political parties need are the temples and coliseums for their teams and fans. voters and philosophies and religions need followers. If you cannot attend the game, you can always migrate When you agree with your parents in these realms, to the neighborhood sports bar or view the game on it likely makes them very happy. On the other hand, you your 72” flat screen TV in your dwelling. This explains may have expressed beliefs or behaviors significantly how money is made off fans—many billions of dollars, different from those of your parents, perhaps causing in fact. To survive as economic and cultural entities, them much consternation. At some point, you decide teams need fans and television needs viewers. They to discard a previous belief or behavior of your parents function together, always trying to acquire more fans by in favor of a new idea and activity. You are no longer copying their beliefs into your mind. a fan or a follower of the previous belief, which is no And what better way to gain fans than to be cele- longer being passed on through you. Beliefs die out brated on television in the annual rituals and spectacles when they are no longer passed on to the succeeding of the Super Bowl and the Bowl Championship Series? generations. 1. The Meme | 13
All these examples—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, understand how they spread via the media to reach sports fans, following parents, and chance over your mind. choice—raise essential questions about the spread of Across eons of evolutionary time, the genes in all life belief systems and media usage in our culture, espe- forms survived by successfully replicating themselves cially via the global networks of the Internet. Let’s con- in their hosts and getting passed on to future hosts via sider another question. Does your mind hold knowledge variation and selection. Evolution is the competition for of the world that you know to be true? Or is your mind existence and survival into the future. Genes compete, merely the host for beliefs that have copied themselves but not merely by copying. Genes must also be se- onto your neurons as an evolutionary survival strategy? lected from among all the other competitors in the gene Are you master of your destiny or merely a puppet with pool. When genes copy themselves, occasionally the a mind virus? copy is imperfect, thus generating a random variation or mutation. From Genes to Memes Those variations or mutations that improve fitness or confer survival advantage—in the highly competitive Facebook is the most popular social media site in the gene pool—will continue to be copied unless they are world. James Cameron’s Avatar remains the highest- replaced or improved by further variations and muta- grossing film of all time, still ahead of Star Wars: The tions. Over millions of iterations, the surviving copies Force Awakens and Avengers: Infinity Wars. But the will gradually take on new qualities that increase their ideas of Facebook and action films are not new. Both prospects for success in producing progeny or in com- tap into ancient traditions, such as the earliest cave petition for limited resources. In contrast, the less suc- paintings poetically shown by Werner Herzog in Cave of cessful genes will eventually be unable to survive, thus Forgotten Dreams. In these haunting and beautiful cave disappearing from nature’s game. In a nutshell, genetic paintings, our early ancestors showed they were artists evolution involves replication, variation, selection, and as they sought to capture and replicate the movement heredity, all for the purpose of existing and surviving of running horses in a sort of protocinema. The origins into the future. Over a couple of billion years, this simple of cinema run deep in our past, which is one reason evolutionary process has produced the complexity and movies remain so popular and can be a powerful way diversity of life on Earth. to enlighten and empower society. Or they can be used In a purely biological sense, your body is the ves- to celebrate warfare and destruction, like the Star Wars sel for genes passed down from your parents and all series and most superhero films do, all to give fans their ancestors. If you choose to have children, your meaning, purpose, and identity. genes will be passed to them, and they will become Like the extraterrestrials in Arrival, humans have long the vessels for the accumulation of genes from all their been using art, language, and technologies to create ancestors. Through the never-ending succession of and replicate representations of the world. Of course, generations, genes have been passed down across Facebook and 3-D technologies are new, but the idea great distances of time and spread around the planet of representing ourselves to the world and representing as humans migrated across the face of the earth. Over the world (including imaginary worlds) to ourselves is the eons, simple and repetitive genetic evolution has not. To represent the world to ourselves is the essence produced the complexity that is your human body and of being human—it is part of our cognitive DNA, so to brain. speak. Your brain is home to your mind—the vessel for Did you know ideas and information evolve in our ideas, beliefs, and worldviews. You most likely inherited culture in much the same way as the genes in your many of those beliefs from your parents. You have ac- body? It makes sense: our minds are part of our bodies, quired ideas from your friends, the media, and maybe and both are the product of evolution. Understanding even some professors. The new beliefs you acquire how ideas evolve and replicate provides a new way to are the product of mutations of previous beliefs or the 14 | Media Environments The Evolution of Memes competitive success of new ideas that have succeeded in gaining your allegiance—especially if the new ideas Genes were the first replicators, fueling the biological or beliefs seem to offer better explanations of the world evolution of life, including the evolution of the human and your place in it. mind. Emerging from our minds, memes are the second To help you think about ideas and information as replicators, fueling the cultural evolution of humans evolutionary beliefs in a new way, let’s explore the around the world. In the words of Susan Blackmore, first media model: the “meme” (rhymes with cream). humans are “gene machines and meme machines.” “Meme” was coined by biologist Richard Dawkins in Memes populate the environments of our minds in the book The Selfish Gene, in which he presented his the form of our beliefs and worldviews, which in turn explanation of genetic evolution.1 Dawkins observed shape our behaviors and destinies. The most complex that culture evolves in many ways similar to genes and memes—such as sports or religions or worldviews or created “meme” as a term for explaining cultural evolu- ecology or consumerism or counterculture—can be tion in new ways. Since then, the concept of memes thought of as metamemes or memeplexes. As explained has spread out into society to become the object of by Blackmore, a metameme is an overarching meme study among many thinkers, as illustrated in the vari- that contains many lesser memes, while a memeplex ous definitions provided in Richard Brodie’s reading in refers to a complexity of memes, or clusters of smaller Chapter 1. memes, that replicate together in a manner that furthers the survival of the memes, collectively and individually.3 • Biological definition: The meme is the basic unit of In effect, many of the superhero films are memeplexes— cultural transmission, or imitation. the Avengers universe includes memes such as Iron • Cognitive definition: A meme is an idea, the kind Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Black Panther, Captain of complex idea that forms itself into a distinct America, and Spiderman. The various superheroes memorable unit. It is spread by vehicles that are replicate singularly and collectively in the movies, comic physical manifestations of the meme. books, and multimedia environments. • Brodie’s definition: A meme is a unit of informa- It is important to understand that the popularity of tion in a mind whose existence influences events a meme, metameme, or memeplex has nothing to do such that more copies of itself get created in other with truth or its true value but rather its ability to survive minds.2 by saying something about the world that ensures its replication in the hosts—including you. In other words, These definitions and the accompanying readings any given meme may be true or may be false. While a provide a method for thinking about the transmission meme could be popular because it is actually true, a of ideas from consciousness to consciousness—via the meme might be unpopular precisely because it is true media—in our culture. Across the millennia of cultural and challenges a widely held belief system. evolution, memes have survived and flourished because This does not mean that memes are “relative” or they managed to replicate, mutate for survival advan- purely subjective, because proving the truth of memes tage, and continue to be selected within the minds of eventually requires correlation with empirical evidence. their hosts. Some memes are simple; some are highly Memes can be true or false, including the memes in complex. your mind. This is why it is important to verify what you believe and discard what you find to be untrue. Memes are accepted because they are assumed to be true, whether or not they are actually true. Memes 1 Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1976): 189–201. Meme is a hybrid term, derived and are also believed because they are viewed as good or condensed from the word “mimeme,” which has roots in the beautiful or valuable in some way, plus a host of lesser Greek word for imitation; Dawkins also thought meme could be related to memory and the French word même; p. 192. 2 Richard Brodie, Virus of the Mind (New York: Hay House, 2009): 3 Susan Blackmore, The Meme Machine (Oxford, UK: Oxford 5–11. University Press, 1999): 19. 1. The Meme | 15
reasons. The most powerful of memes, metamemes and smartphones in the 2000s. Television screens and memeplexes, are believed because they provide migrated to computers in the 1950s and then spread a model of the world—however accurate or inac- to personal computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, curate—that provides a sense of meaning, a sense of and drones. The concept of temes helps us understand understanding, and a sense of destiny and purpose. how technologies replicate, mutate, and spread. Many Wherever there are people and ideas, there are of these temes have converged to produce the techno- memes, all competing to replicate and survive in the logical evolution of our 24/7 media environments. And meme pool. This is no less true in politics. Politicians these media environments are the perfect ecosystems need voters, and political parties need followers. for the global replication of memes. That’s why memes You could think of the historic 2008 US presidential like temes. election as a battle among three memes: “Hope and Times Square is temes filled with memes.5 So are Change,” “Maverick,” and “Rogue.” Do we even need Twitter, the Super Bowl, and the IMAX theater. Temes to mention the names of the candidates associated and memes are all around us, in our cities and our with these memes? What about the 2016 presidential cultures, and replicating and mutating nonstop in election and the meme “Make America Great Again”? the media networks—laptops, tablets, smartphones, You know which candidate it stands for. Politicians, fashions, hairstyles, logos, tattoos, body piercings, hit media personalities, and the “experts” may have actual songs, viral videos, conspiracy theories, and the end- merit, but nothing is guaranteed just because a meme less array of iPhone apps—all connected via that vast is popular. Truth and virtue often have little to do with network we call the Internet. But the effect of all this which memes are popular or prevail on television or in is more than just the Internet we use, because temes the Twitterverse. have changed the way live, from electricity to cars to planes to the screen before your eyes right now. Temes and memes make possible our second media model: Memes Like Temes the Global Village. The best place for memes to replicate is in the global media environments. That is how many memes entered the environments of your mind. It’s likely how you learned of the Wonder Woman and Black Panther films, the winner of the World Cup or the Super Bowl, or the Backpack Kid going viral after doing the Floss with Katy Perry. The Internet and mobile media perfectly illustrate Susan Blackmore’s innovative insights. Following genes and memes, Blackmore thinks that a third replicator has emerged among our memes: the replicator of technology, or what she calls “temes.”4 All of our media technologies are mass-produced, which means they are copied and replicated, like genes and memes. The technologies also adapt and mutate with new innova- tions. The large mainframe computers of the 1950s be- 5 In 2007, I wrote and directed an experimental film about media and memes in Times Square. It’s called Space Times Square, came desktop personal computers in the 1970s, which and it played at various festivals and conferences around became laptops in the 1990s, which became tablets the world. The film received the 2010 John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis in the Field of Media Ecology from the Media Ecology Association. The twenty-four-minute film is a 4 Susan Blackmore, “Susan Blackmore on Memes and Temes,” mind-bender; you can check it out for free on YouTube. Just TED2008 Conference, February 2008, https://www.ted.com/ type in “Space Times Square.” For more information, see talks/susan_blackmore_on_memes_and_temes?language=en. http://www.mediaanddestiny.org/space-times-square/.