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New technologies and

cultural forms

The industrysociety debate foregrounded by Keith Negus in Section IV has a


counterpart in the technological deterministsocial constructionist debate in new
media studies. Sarah Kember implicitly argues for a synthesis, but in a form that
attributes more influence to technology than is the current convention. In partic-
ular, developing Haraways work on the cyborg, Kember offers an important
challenge to the presumed centrality of humanism in much of media and cultural
studies. Here Kember also offers a commentary on the important debates insti-
gated by Lister et al. (2003) among others, surrounding the critical question of
whether Raymond Williamss (1974) long canonical dismissal of McLuhans
(1964) crude technological determinism has perhaps had the unfortunate effect
of removing the materiality of technology from any serious consideration, to a
point where technology is now often accredited no agency at all. Kember urges
that, in the context of the rebirth of Darwinism, the recent development of socio-
biology and the surrounding science wars, these matters are now overdue for
critical review. She argues that an understanding of biotechnology and the debates
around it which remains, on the whole, outside the conventional terms of refer-
ence of media research is central to making sense of the dynamics, form and
influence of new media including the intelligent media that are now a real
possibility.
In his discussion of the increasing importance of computer graphics techniques
in the new film industries of Siliwood in which many of todays film stars are
digital rather than human characters Synthespians in his terms Jonathan
Burston offers an argument that might perhaps be seen as a concrete instantiation
of the very issues that Kember addresses in more abstract and theoretical terms.
In a world where we see a whole new cinematic grammar of technological
production rapidly developing, in which digital actors replace those who are
now sometimes disparagingly referred to as meat puppets or blood actors,
Kembers critique of the humanist foundations of the conventional cultural
studies approach to these issues has a striking and obvious relevance. As Burston
notes, the development of synthespianism has now gone far beyond the marginal
New technologies and cultural forms

realm of special effects, and is now an increasingly integral part of film produc-
tion Among other things, these new working cyborgs who now populate the
world of entertainment labour have profound consequences for something that is
very rarely considered in studies of media production the welfare of media
workers. The increasing deployment of digital characters in mainstream films
(such as The Lord of the Rings) may be creating new animation work but, according
to Burston, it is likely to affect very adversely the livelihoods and prospects of
jobbing actors in an already insecure industry.
Both Janet Harbord and Des Freedman take issue with the view that new tech-
nology is transforming the media. In the case of the cinema, argues Harbord,
digitisation is contributing an incremental cultural shift. It is facilitating the devel-
opment of cinema cultures as being different from one another by enabling
distinctive production innovations, from storytelling in 4/4 time in independent
films to spectacular special effects in Hollywood epics. It is also contributing to an
expansion of cinema sites (including improved home viewing) as well as viewing
practices. In short, it is advancing a gradual process of pluralisation rather than
inaugurating an apocalyptic transformation (whether for good or bad).
Similarly Des Freedman argues that, although the Internet offers much that is
valuable and has had a significant impact on traditional media (most notably on
recorded music and publishing), it has not been the transformative force that many
analysts anticipated. The Internet has been held back by its inability to generate a
large income, as well as by technical and access problems. People also tend to visit
a narrow range of websites rather than take full advantage of the nets diversity.
Old media still command mass audiences, while television remains the main
source of news. Indeed, the Internet has come to supplement rather than replace
traditional media and thus cannot be argued to adequately offset the continuing
shortcomings of established and still-powerful systems of the old media.

References
Lister, M., Dovey, J., Giddings, S., Grant, I. and Kelly, K. (2003) New Media: A Critical
Introduction, London: Routledge.
McLuhan, M. (1964) Understanding Media, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Williams, R. (1974) Television,Technology and Cultural Form, London: Fontana.

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