The Society
“The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a
global village."
The internet makes the world much smaller and much more accessible; and with the smartphone and portable devices so integral to everyday life, we have the world at our literal fingertips. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube all have a heavy emphasis on cultivating an online community, which is what makes them so successful. We are drawn into these communities that we can visit everyday and get filled in on what’s going on in everybody’s lives. Social media is the new campfire, and we are the new global village.
Image appropriated from The Medium is the Massage
"The shock of recognition! In an electric information environment, minority groups can no longer be contained— ignored. Too many people know too much about each other. Our new environment compels commitment and participation. We have become irrevocably involved with, and responsible for, each other."
McLuhan
History's end credits
The shift to visual media has created the booming industry of film. From post-colonialist films, with evident sequences that heavily relied on the male gaze, to european art and feminist cinema, to the Hollywood box-office, film has undergone a huge variety of changes and has shifted and evolved.
Film has been utilized to portray history and keystone events. Hollywood often takes traumatic events and sparks a social commentary about it by telling the story for those who do not have the power or voice to reach such a wide audience. The cinematography, intimate portrayal, and high resolution, paired with a powerful and moving score, can elicit emotions and empathy around the events being portrayed.
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However, the way that Hollywood portrays such events also has its consequences. More often than not, these movies often focus on a white male as the movie’s protagonist, rather than members of the inflicted group. Through focusing on the protagonist’s journey through the three act structure through the resolution of the narrative, the audience identifies with the character and his redemption, therefore feeling redeemed and released from any social responsibility to the injustice. Critical Race theorist Mark Golub describes films that follow this structure to fall into the genre of “Hollywood redemption history.” One example of this can be seen in Hollywood's The Good Lie in direct comparison to the documentary it was based off, Lost Boys of Sudan.
