the visual commodity has two implications: mc luhans "the medium is the
message" and the simple process of paying for value. the example of
tv-shows which are nothing but gadgets for advertisers and which can be
exactly measured in "attention/endorphine units" need not prove the
fusion of foreground and background, of quantity and quality, of real
and pseudo-real.
mc luhan compared the eternal question what should be played on TV with
the nonsense-question what should be played on one?s own nervous system.
it is the nervous system itself, which decides what is played on it. so
on tv. tv always tells us humans quite obviously what it is: the
struggle for the maximum of visual and audial stimulus, disseminated
immaterially, independet from space, time and cultural implications.
mtv, baywatch and the advertisers behind them are quite close to that
ideal but have not reached it by far. we cannot stop this process,
however hard we try. the only possible influence would be a 1984 global
dictatorship.
but what has the process to do with foreground and background? With
reality and pseudo-reality? to explain this, i quote some simple truths:
a bullet can kill me. a bullet in tv can not (and so on).
i do a job to create value. the value i create is expressed in my
salary. with the salary i eat, dwell, etc..
....and pay for whatever immaterial imaginery, information, as long as
it delivers me value, even the "value" of some endorphines set free.
just like any other merchandise.
conclusion:
visual commodities are part of a market under normal market laws. we are
frightened by the dynamics, by the speed of this market?s development
and maybe by the lack of ethical control over it. but i cannot follow
thoughts, which predict any callapse of realities, or any other basic
(spatial) changes.