Re: The New Media: A query

[Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>
>
>I think the thing to look for is not formal breakthroughs, which is what is
>being hyped the most, but the ability for the 'amateur' to bypass corporate
>control and go directly to the population such is the case with Napster.
>Digital cameras and computers like the new IMac make movie-making
>relatively cheap. Once you have the whole thing produced, you can advertise
>and distribute it over the Internet. After looking at reviews of the
>garbage that hits NYC theaters each week, I say that this new medium will
>be addressing a burning need. One of the aspects of late capitalism that
>few commentators seem capable of addressing is the cultural rot which
>leaves us feeling hollow and dissatisfied. One of the reasons I spend so
>much time on the net, when I am not reading, is that so much of radio and
>television is not only garbage, it is saturated with ads.
>
>Louis Proyect
>Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/


I agree, Lou, that there is radical potential in the new technology. Though
I am enough of a professional educator to believe that great art will not
necessarily flow from the recent accessibility of both cameras and outlets
such as the Web.

I also agree about the cultural rot. Still I worry about how the new media
is used in some institutions as the final philistine assault on what
remains of the old High Culture. And I have to tell you Lou, that of all
the computer folk I have met you are the solitary radical and the solitary
culture buff.

regards

Gary