This week I wanted to try something different in my post and extend the arguments presented by Bolter and Grusin beyond the medium to the context presented by the media. “We can also consider repurposing in microeconomic terms as the refashioning of materials and practices” (p. 68). I would also argue that the media not only repurposes materials, they also repurpose ideas and principles. In this process the media will take a concept and idea only to make seem more real or tangible to an audience. One clear example of this process could be the framing of shows on The Food Network.
Several years ago I did research on the themes presented by the Food Network, “One underlying theme that Adema (2000) calls for is increased exploration, “cooking as a family activity is earning ‘rarity values,’ a nostalgic value ascribed to something based in its scarcity” (p. 118). A nostalgic longing for happier moments, home-cooked meals and food may be a key reason for the success of The Food Network. However, in this research I discovered that the network often presents a feeling for nostalgic for something that never really existed in the first place.
This concept connects to Bolter and Grusin’s belief that “the desire to express one’s self through media is a hallmark of romanticism and long predates the development of digital media. . . If the Enlightenment subject was content to stand and gaze through the window frame, the romantic subject wanted to get closer” (234). Much of the programming allows viewers to get closer and envision a world that is like the world The Food Network creates for them.
On such way this is achieved in the show The Barefoot Contessa. The Barefoot Contessa uses food to help others connect to each other and with the past. She often tells guest the importance of using traditional ingredients to make things that remind people of the their past. In one episode she selected a menu that would remind her guests of their childhood. She will often use recipes from her past or the past of her friends. During this process she allows the audience to remember or long for this traditional food and ideal family setting. Beyond simply longing for this connection she encourages her audience to use her ideas in their own life. This allows viewers to move from passive to active participants s. It also allows viewers to connect to the romantic inside and connect with a television character in what we believe is an important or meaningful way.
Not only has the media effectively remediated the technology we use, but also they have effectively remediated our concept of the past to a version that seems better and more realistic but most likely has never existed.
I appreciate your connection to Food Network. Any overly esoteric literary critic would benefit from using particle examples. Thank you for doing so. There's something profound about the role that nostalgia plays in how 'reality' is constructed. I often think of Martha Stewart and TV/Film Westerns.
ReplyDeleteOr to continue the comment, nostalgia is often for something that happened once or infrequently. Like happy family dinners, for example. Usually at my house they were discussions or even arguments over differing opinions. There were lots of warm fuzzy times, but most of them were pretty utilitarian.
ReplyDeleteI love what you said about remediating ideas and non-physical things. If remediation only occurs in a digital medium, then we are primarily talking about re-using different kinds of digital data, essentially assigning new filetypes. If, however, remediation means incorporating and re-using ideas and themes, this has been done throughout recorded history and is a much wider topic.
Great post!