Could not stop looking at my screen while reading this chapter!
Lev Manovich’s chapter two of “The new language of media,” focused on the interface and its tight grip on human interaction with technology.
Of course no chapter of Manovich would be complete without at least fifty pages of technicalities. However, this read was quite interesting, particularly the screen and the user (pg. 94-115).
Manovich drew many parallels between physical and virtual reality, and the distinct fusion (and partial separation) the screen can somehow manipulate the two. For example, “she is fully situated within this other space. We can say the two spaces, physical and virtual coincide. The virtual space, previously confined to a movie screen, now encompasses the real space” (p. 97).
This union of worlds is slightly terrifying, but also fascinating. In some ways the screen dictates what we see and what we actually see. We become reliant on screens to provide us with information we could not see without a screen. For example, the use of radar during the World Wars allowed the military to gather information about the enemy before it was too late. This proactive behavior was successful, and I believe that this began our imprisonment with the first screen apparatus (p. 105).
“The imprisonment of the body takes place on both the conceptual and literal levels” (p. 105). Alberti’s perspectival window allows the user to see the world through a singular eye. Now, let us break that down. If you were only able to view the world with one eye, wouldn’t that create a level of dependability? And once you become dependent on something, you require it to function properly. In a sense, this creates a fence. Therefore, we have become prisoners within the fence of the screen.
“With the perspectival machines, the imprisonment of the subject also happens in a literal sense” (p. 105). With early photography, subjects voluntarily put themselves in positions where they could not move for extensive periods of time. Fast forward and we come to the cinematic adventure (movie houses: aka large prisons). During this virtual journey, subjects’ movements were restricted and communication (except from screen to subject) was prohibited.
It is interesting to note that today in a movie theater if a person is talking everyone around shushes and becomes agitated. Look at what the screen has done to society. Is it a positive or negative influence on how we view our physical world?
Check this out
http://pando.com/2014/02/16/convergence-what-happens-when-virtual-realities-take-over/
-JMG
Communication's Corner 