The American Novel in the Age of Television

It's no coincidence Kathleen Fitzpatrick opens this chapter with the following John Berger quote: "Seeing comes before words." This is an argument I have been trying to articulate all semester: Experience of the world helps us to learn different components such as reading, deciphering images, and writing. I believe Fitzpatrick is taking the experience component one step further in this chapter. She states on page ninety eight regarding the relationship with television, "Here, the television's 'meshed effect' produces a new kind of intertwining of human and television set, one that functions 'as if' human perception were required to complete the broadcast." Fitzpatrick uses an example from DeLillo's Americana. She continues to use Americana to explain "image-burns." I found this idea similar to the random commercial you find yourself reciting. You've heard and seen the images so many times they have become part of your subconscious. Fitzpatrick repeatedly references DeLillo's White Noise to conceptualize television's role in destroying "the distinction between flesh and image," as Thomas Ferraro argues on page one hundred. I instantly thought of Mike Teevee in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He is so obsessed with the "image burns" he has seen on the screen he wants to become part of that world. I tried to find the original clip with Gene Wilder without much success. In that clip you actually see Mike Teevee dissolve and become nothing but particles floating above the television. This clip with Depp is interesting, because like the original, the evils of television are listed as a warning to children everywhere.

Fitzpatrick continues to discuss the relationship between the written word and images in a historical context. We have discussed the threat Fitzpatrick analyzes in some detail so I will not dwell too much on this part of the chapter. In relation to Dr. Collins' speech on Tuesday night, Fitzpatrick refers to interconnectedness, not only in this chapter, but in previous ones as well. Here she says on one hundred and one, "Where older forms are assumed to be 'human,' new media are seen as mechanical; where older forms are individualist, new media are designed for an interconnected mass." This is where I find her comments about newspaper forms, (specifically the Times) and books relevant to our class. This interconnectedness seems to be the goal of mass media because it has potential financial possibilities left untapped.

I wanted to focus on images in relation to books. First, lets look at a few images, especially a few Fitzpatrick discusses. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.unknown.nu/futurism/images/words1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.unknown.nu/futurism/destruction.html&h=442&w=338&sz=121&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=nMNmct__I1kHFM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=97&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpictures%2Band%2Bwords%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7RNWE The interconnectedness discussed on this web site is very interesting. What was the first thing you noticed when you opened the page? What thoughts came to mind? Like me, on some level I think Fitzpatrick believes images and words have and will continue to coexist, just in a different form as we move into the future. However, Neil Postman has argued differently throughout his career. Fitzpatrick states on one hundred and four, "For Postman, such technologies of communication as print and television cannot peacefully coexist. Instead, 'new technologies compete with old ones-for time, for attention, for money, for prestige, but mostly for dominance of their world-view'; such competition leads to the present situation, in which U.S. culture faces 'television attacking the printed word." Based on interconnectedness, I believe Collins would disagree. The overlapping which is occurring today offers a place for literature, the image, and other medians such as photography and music. If anything, I believe the over stimulation of images effects our communication. Our brain becomes a vastness of pictures. To describe those pictures becomes more difficult as more pictures are added without words to enhance the experience. In turn, does this over stimulation create a varied reality? I want not so much to define reality, but to offer a change in one's personal creation of reality. The argument on one hundred and seven is at the heart of this discussion. Does one image provoke stronger feelings of violence? This can also be linked to Fitzpatrick's discussion about the camera and photography. Does the camera act as a metaphor for a gun? I wouldn't go as far to say this, or agree with Delillo's comments on one hundred and thirty three. "We are meant to sense that the poorer the image quality, the more 'real' the event." I do believe the camera lens has the capability to capture pain and death, while offering a disconnectedness for the personal recording or "shooting." In regards to the poorer the image the more real we find the event please refer to the following link. The video is a live, grainy broadcast of Budd Dwyer's death. Notice the quick focus on the camera itself. Warning: This is a bit graphic. http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTdjobNdvAg

This violent power the image can possess was the most interesting part of this chapter in my opinion. For example, the violent connotations associated with Hitler are discussed at great length. For me the example of the Cold War worked differently. I see the words McCarthyism and conjure up different thoughts and images in my brain than if I saw a picture of McCarthy.

I think the relationship between the image, television, and the novel differs depending on who you ask. For some see this relationship like this: "In the multiplicity of television's voices, both its manifold interconnections and its teeming information, the novel imagines a further threat: the replacement of the individual with the mass-think of the network." (148) I'm still undecided. On some level I want literature to remain separate from all other medians. In a ever changing world the relationship the book has with society must change as well.