McLuhan's Hot and Cool Media - Blog #4
This week I would like to draw attention to a particular aspect of McLuhan's work that stuck out to me, that of hot and cool media. I really enjoyed our discussion in class regarding what constitutes a hot media and vice versa.
In a particularly complicated and frequently discussed section of Marshall McLuhan's Understanding the Media: The Extension of Man, McLuhan’s assessment of media forms through the conceptual lens of hot vs. cool media is brought forth. It is an important facet of understanding his medium theory as a whole. Important themes of the hot and cool distinction deal with how we are able to understand media as "comprising an environment" and emphasizing the "effect" of a media form over its meaning. These embody McLuhan's overall aim which is to analyze the total effect of media over the content they produce. In this case, the use of hot and cool temperatures is simply metaphorical and relates to how each media - whether hot or cool - encourages different degrees of participation from the viewer. Hot mediums according to McLuhan extends a single sense in high definition featuring lots of data, and is low in audience participation, there is little to be filled in by the audience. Hot mediums are also uniform and mechanical according to McLuhan and they extend visual space. McLuhan gives photographs, radio, the phonetic alphabet, print, lecture, film and books as examples of a hot medium. Cool mediums on the other hand features low definition media with not as much data, and are high in audience participation by default. These mediums are said to be organic over mechanical and collapse acoustic space. McLuhan gives cartoons, the telephone, ideographic/pictographic writing, speech (orality), seminar, discussion, television, and comics as examples of cool mediums. It is important to keep in mind the time period that these distinctions were made, as many of these mediums have undergone significant change since he would have written about them. This directly relates to the idea that according to McLuhan, media forms are able to "heat up" over time. McLuhan was also importantly not overly concerned with a strict linear and exact definition of hot versus cool mediums - which could speak to why the topic can be confusing at times - therefore we must see hot and cool media not in terms of static definitions but as dynamic concepts that can change with different societal and cultural contexts.
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you agree with McLuhan's assessments of which media forms are hot v.s cool? Can you point out an example of where you may disagree? (ex. Books as a hot media form v.s comics as cool?)
2. Can you think of an example of a media form that has "heated up" since McLuhan last wrote on the topic? (A media form which usage has had a change in experience and effect over time?)
Hi Dylan, I also enjoyed our discussion in class about hot and cool media. However, it was a tad bit confusing for me. For example, Professor Herman thought the telephone would be hot media, as did I initially. However, the more I thought about it, I guess you can argue both. For instance, talking on the phone can extend the single sense of listening and low audience participation, which would be hot media. But if you're both engaged in conversation, both would be high in participation, and it would be cool media. In other words, I would argue it depends on the circumstance that the medium is being used, which makes it hard to comprehend for me at times. Overall, I enjoyed reading your post!
ReplyDeleteHi Dylan, I think you did a great job summarizing McLuhan's concept of hot and cool media. To answer your second question I would say a media that has changed in experience over time is television shows or streaming services. I'm sure majority of us grew up watching cable where the only place you could watch television was strictly wherever your television was. However, with the evolution of streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Crave, etc television has now become more interactive in the sense that you can now create your own profile, your own watch list, like and dislike shows and movies and most significantly watch from anywhere. Streaming services has changes the experience of entertainment and allowed us to interact and participate in watching movies and tv on our own time. Overall, great post!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Dylan! Addressing your second question, in class on Wednesday we discussed that overtime media can heat up, as media is constantly changing and definitions shift. For example when examining a media that goes from cool to hot, there is a shift in the media's definition, less data to more data, low audience participation to high audience participation, etc. These shifts are due to evolution of media.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, I would argue that an example of a media that has "heated up" would be television. Overtime television has become more assessable and convenient due to the onset of streaming services and binge watching. Audiences are able to watch specific shows whenever they please, which has lead to a rise in audiences due to a shift from specific set show times where people had to see if there schedules aligned to view a television show vs. now during free time audiences can turn on their favourite show when they please.
Very good post. For the first question, I think there are plenty of situations where it is unclear whether a media is hot or cold For example, McLuhan said film is hot media and television is cold media, so where does that put made-for-tv movies? I would say that those would be considered cold media, even though they are technically films. I think an example of media that has heated up would be old cartoons of Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny from the 1940s. When these cartoon first came out, they were simply used as entertainment, but now they are a fascinating way to learn about societal norms during the World War 2 era.
ReplyDelete