Neil, look at Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse
in the Age of Show Business, Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media,
Walter Ong's Orality and Lliteracy, and Susan Sontag's On Photography.
Susan Kelly
 
On Mon, 6 Nov 1995, Neil Pollock wrote:
 
>      The next Industry Event at the Australian Film TV & Radio School is
>      going to look at the relationship between the 'word', the 'idea' and
>      visual representation - with particular reference to popular visual
>      culture.
>
>      The premise to be tested is this: WHY ISN'T TELEVISION GENERALLY
>      PERCEIVED TO BE AN APPROPRIATE VEHICLE FOR IDEAS?  Why are the realms
>      of the written (published) or spoken (radio) word seen to be the more
>      obvious, comfortable places for ideas?
>
>      Think of popular culture & you get - TV, cinema, comix, pornography
>      (if visual; erotica if written).  It feels as if unless the word is a
>      'womanword' like gossip, babble, chatter etc etc, the word is valued
>      more highly than the visual.
>
>      Compare the televisual treatment of news and current affairs; e.g. CNN
>      vs Australian Broadcasting Corporation's News Radio.
>
>      Is this because western European culture has always been very wedded
>      to the notion of the visual, in fact, as Plato's Cave points out, a
>      PICTURE IS only a picture and NOT THE REAL THING.
>
>      And what are the implications of this for Australia, with an
>      indigenous culture that has no history of the written word, but with
>      a strong tradition of oral and visual representation.
>
>      I would think my first port of call would be Walter Benjamin - to
>      explore the differences between writing & visual literacy & what the
>      implications of this are for social & political questions about seeing
>      and thinking.
>
>      But where to next??????
>
>      ANY ASSISTANCE TO POINT US IN APPROPRIATE DIRECTIONS FOR READING/
>      UNDERSTANDING would be greatly appreciated.
>
>      Neil Pollock
>      Library Manager
>
>      on behalf of
>      Jane Mills
>      Head of Screen Studies
>
>      AFTRS
>
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