Its purpose is defined, I think, by the exclusivity of the creators and audience. I'm guessing the first publisher of mass media was a caveman from some frightened tribe who painted pictures on a rock wall as a tool to understand the furry monsters that kept eating the cavewomen and cavechildren. But has anything changed since then? Has mass media evolved over time, or has it been separated into endless genres tailored for specific audiences?
Wikipedia says that drama was the first form of mass media, so lets forget about the caveman for a while and start there. Back in ancient Greece (and probably China or something, but this is American Beards not Korean Beards so fuck you eastern hemisphere) they had huge festivals in honor of the gods where they got drunk and watched tragic plays written on commission from the senate. Everybody cried and hugged and drank and generally felt pretty great about themselves afterwards, because Greece had made ART, and the Persians sure as hell hadn't. It was a mark of refinement not only that they created art, but also that they could appreciate it. If the cave paintings were a tool, then Greek tragedy was an accessory. It was a mark of community, and so was necessarily shared by everyone; women came to these festivals, and slaves too. The plays were entertaining, sure, but I think the main purpose was to unite people under a shared sense of smugness.
Ira Glass: a modern-day Sophocles?
The Middle Ages were a little less democratic with their media. If you weren't getting the plague or lording over your hapless peons, you were probably taking in one of the era's few forms of entertainment: Church. Going to Mass in the Middle Ages involved watching the back of the priest's head while he spoke something in Latin, which nobody but the priests and noblemen spoke. And even if you could speak Latin, the Bibles were still hand-transcribed by monks and kinda hard to get. So as a peasant, I guess you just took the priest's word on what the hell was going on and felt bad about whatever he told you to feel bad about. This had to be pretty damn entertaining considering that the rest of your life consisted of digging through peat and/or popping out babies. But you couldn't do anything with Church. You could only sit and listen and then go back to your hovel. Martin Luther had a right to muck up the Catholic Church out of sheer boredom as much as for any other reason.
Actually, lets consider the protestant reformation a little more. Martin Luther got pissed off and published his 95 Theses in 1517, which most nerds will agree is the beginning of the reformation. Johann Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press around 1440 and started making Gutenberg Bibles (in english) about ten years later. Remember when I said how rare Bibles were in the Middle Ages? With more people able to read the Bible, Martin Luther was able to point out to a large audience where the Church was lying to them. This took all of the fun out of being a priest in the Middle Ages.
Actually, lets consider the protestant reformation a little more. Martin Luther got pissed off and published his 95 Theses in 1517, which most nerds will agree is the beginning of the reformation. Johann Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press around 1440 and started making Gutenberg Bibles (in english) about ten years later. Remember when I said how rare Bibles were in the Middle Ages? With more people able to read the Bible, Martin Luther was able to point out to a large audience where the Church was lying to them. This took all of the fun out of being a priest in the Middle Ages.
"And then Jesus said 'Whosoever shall find the colored eggs
I have hidden around this backyard shall gain eternal life
in the kingdom of Heaven.'"
So we made this massive jump from nobody having access to media, to a saturation of it. After the printing press came most of the stuff that we tell our friends we read today: the modern novel, the newspaper, etc. And it was a pretty good deal for us. More books meant more people could access information easily, which meant a higher level of education for a greater number of people. Medical science advanced, average life-spans lengthened, we had the enlightenment, and everybody felt pretty good about themselves. Mass media was truly massive again: accessible and understandable to anyone who could read.
Fast forward to today, and what I really want to talk about in this post: the internet. Specifically the whole Web2.0 thing. Not only can you access more media than ever before, you can make some media yourself if you want to. It's terrifically democratizing but also a tremendous hindrance to the accessing of information. Because the internet is saturated with blogs, vlogs, and Facebook pages that all beg the question: who the hell cares? Why do I need to know what you did today? Why should I read your blog?
So I'm gonna try to defend the purpose of this little writing project. I have no audience in mind for this. I realize that probably nobody will read it, and I don't care. I'm doing it for the same reason that caveman got a wet stick and drew a wooly mammoth on the wall: to paint a picture of what I see so I can look at it later and feel like I understand it. I'm doing it to feel smug, and also just to fuck around a bit. I don't know how the hell you got here, but keep coming back and maybe send me a comment every once in a while to tell me how I'm doing. Seriously, I care about what you have to say.
Thanks
