As I passed the local McDonald’s on my way home this weekend, the concept of remediation came to mind. Bolter and Grusin characterize remediation as, “…the representation of one medium in another…” (45). Examples include the written word into print and film into television. Although by definition remediation consists of an evolving technological transformation, I wondered if the term also rings true when one medium – such as a McDonald’s restaurant – is torn down and then another superior medium of a similar nature is rebuilt in the same spot. The new medium is a McDonald’s in which large screen televisions, gas fireplaces and upscale paintings are present. To be honest, I don’t know why.
Although remediation consists of a technological growth in which two mediums are involved, I believe that this transformation is evidence of remediation from an atypical perspective. As both elements of hypermediacy and immediacy from the initial restaurant continue to be in effect through the menus displayed, Happy Meal toys served and the accessibility of the drive-thru, I believe that remediation exists under such circumstances.
Boulter, Jay David, and Richard Grusin. Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2000.
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3 comments:
this is an interesting post! i don't think i've considered the spatial dynamics you refer to here (as they relate to broader theories of remediation) but i think it is important to consider how space and technology are always redefining the parameters of everyday life. do restaurants remediate in the same way that a films or paintings do? maybe, but i haven't had enough time to think about it.
keep writing,
i.
It's interesting that you brought this up. It's one aspect we tried to focus on in our presentation today - how physical spaces are manipulated to produce a certain effect, and how we manipulate spaces without our own media. If you're interested in this, you should take a peek at Jon's blog. By the end of the week he'll have posted a more detailed version of what he presented today, and it's along the same lines as what you're talking about here.
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