Hi everyone. This is the discussion for next week but I have a triathlon training course this weekend that runs through to Monday so I will not be able to post on the Monday. This is why I am doing it today. Hope you all have a good weekend!!
WEEK 9: CONSUMPTION AND DIGITAL COMMODITIES IN THE EVERYDAY (MARK POSTER)
In this text Mark Poster discusses how consumers are the core of society but they are not individuals in this society but merely objects for media to target. “In the space of the city, the individual is labelled and branded into the category of the consumer with a consistency that would be admirable were it not so deplorable.”[1] Media is so instilled in culture that it programmes our minds to think about things in a certain way. Poster was surprised when he visited Ljubljana (a war torn country) and found it to be beautiful. The media had instilled in his mind “a depressing urban landscape dominated by a monotony of greys.”[2]
Poster describes how we cannot escape media not matter how much we attempt to do so. We are invaded in our own homes whether it is from television commercials or whether we get that 10pm phone call from telemarketers. When contemplating this idea I tried to imagine my world without media – it is impossible. I do believe though that a person can choose whether or not their life is dominated by media if not in the outside world, most certainly at home. We can choose to not buy that TV, radio and computer and to not have a phone line. Then again, in this day and age is that possible? Our lives have become so centralised around media that we may not be able to live without it. It is instilled in our culture.
Do you agree that we cannot escape media?
Without consumption there is no industry. “Consumption was considered necessary for the reproduction of labour and the satisfaction of needs.”[3] This point is very interesting. When thinking about the world we live in it consumption happens every minute of our day. I am consuming right now by just using this computer and listening to the radio in the background. If people were not ‘consumers’ how would people make a living?
As technology has improved the consumer has become less and less of a human being and more of an ‘actor’. The consumer has become predictable and the media know just how to exploit this predictability. Poster contrasts modern and postmodern consumption patterns. In modern society one had “a fixed idea of consumption for wealthy, middle class and poorer folk”[4] whereas the postmodern argues that consumption patterns can derive from the minorities and move up in society. In modern society the consumer is not connected to the product and that product is a big part of status whereas in postmodern society the product is an extension of that user’s self. It represents that person’s identity. When thinking about this I thought about the computer – we use this device hugely to communicate and therefore has become an extension of our own minds and speech – the postmodern argument I think rings true here. Do you agree?
In the last couple of years consumers have been able to choose whether or not they are exposed to advertising, particularly through television. Think of Foxtel IQ and the way we can record programmes and then fast-forward through advertisements. In a way we are starting to rebel against media. “Television finds itself fundamentally at risk simply because the cultural object has been digitized and the ‘consumer’ has chosen to deploy the new medium to ends other than those of capitalism.”[5] We are now in a world where we can log onto a programme such as Limewire and have access to millions and millions of free songs and movies with the click of a mouse. Media companies have put actions into place to try and combat this but all efforts have proved unsuccessful. Their last option is to make the “cultural object accessible to consumers only a pay per use basis. Consumers will have, in this view, no object at all, only access.”[6]
Do you think that this will work or do you think that consumers will still find a way to rebel against this type of media action?
What are your thoughts on the fact that we are no longer individual people in the media environment but targets to gain and exploit?
REFERENCES
Poster, Mark. “Consumption and Digital Commodities in the Everyday.” Cultural Studies 18.2/3 (2004): 409-23
REFERENCES
Poster, Mark. “Consumption and Digital Commodities in the Everyday.” Cultural Studies 18.2/3 (2004): 409-23
FOOTNOTES
[1] Mark Poster, “Consumption and Digital Commodities in the Everyday”, Cultural Studies, 18.2/3 (2004):p409
[2] Poster, p410
[3] Poster, p411
[4] Poster: p416
[5] Poster:p420-421
[6] Poster:p418-419
3 comments:
We live in an age of technology and rely heavily upon it for practically every aspect of our lives. As Lauryn said she could not imagine her world without media, and neither can I. In fact I would be quite surprised to find a person who could honestly say that they were not dependent upon the media. I don't think that there has to be such an extreme decision regarding media- all or nothing. As long as people can still communicate face to face and do not find themselves in need of the media and technology as a crutch then there should be no need to escape media. Yet even if one tried I think they would find it impossible.
In many ways there is an ongoing struggle between consumers and producers. Piracy, Limewire, etc. may allow us to avoid advertising, but this could be countered with an increase in product placement (think of James Bond!) Additionally, streaming overseas shows 'direct from the U.S.' encourages people to watch them live, complete with advertising.
What Lauryn said is true: we need advertising/consumption - otherwise we wouldn't be able to fund the production of goods/media. It would require a huge cultural shift to counter capitalism, and I can't see this shift happening any time soon.
The idea that I/we/consumers are puppets of the media sits uncomfortably with me personally. I’m not sure if this is due to my lust for anarchy or my unnatural love for technology. Again it’s difficult to distinguish rebellion from reality and I also cannot imagine myself as a marketing tool, or solely as a demographic to be tapped. Put simply, Poster underestimates technology. The freedom available to us through the internet is incomprehensible to most. Besides surveillance and target advertising, digital media has brought with it cyber crime, piracy, fraud, freedom of speech, and is medium of choice for the underhanded and legitimate alike. In as quickly as one can establish an arm of control through digital media it is also possible to find examples of rebellion. Warts and all, digital media is controlled through human desire. It is a realm of hedonism where moral obligations and constraints are exchanged for convenience, desire, all funded by the money making schemes of the conman and ‘honest Joe’ alike.
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