Capitalism and the Enchanted Screen

Myths and Allegories in the Digital Age

Aleksandr Andreas Wansbrough (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

232 Seiten

2020
Bloomsbury Academic USA (Verlag)
978-1-5013-5641-4 (ISBN)

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Myths such as Narcissus’ reflection, Pandora’s box, and Plato’s cave have been used to frame modern technological dangers; often to describe people absorbed in their own digital reflections. Such speculation either purports that technology has a magical power or else that technology merely represents human nature unchanged from the myth’s inception. But those accounts ignore the paradoxical understandings of the power relationships allegorized, where people are manipulated by higher forces beyond their comprehension. Working from the assumption that capitalism rather than God is the highest power, this book examines mythic anticipations of the screen and digital technology from European literature, poetry, folklore and philosophy. Digital technology and social media are approached not as reflections of human nature but capitalist ideology’s power to enchant. To this end, Capitalism and the Enchanted Screen also surveys a diverse variety of films, digital media and contemporary artworks to understand and critique how myths are reimagined today.

Aleks Wansbrough is a cultural theorist who lectures on art, media and film at the University of Sydney, Australia, as well as Bennett University, India, where he is an adjunct professor. He has contributed articles to popular and academic journals exploring film, contemporary art, philosophy, digital media and neoliberal capitalism. He is an editor of the Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture.

Acknowledgements
Preface

Chapter 1: Introduction to Magical Technology and Dis-Enchanting Screens
Chapter 2: Lost in Reflection: Selfies and the Echo of Narcissus
Chapter 3:Interactive Entrapment Beyond Plato, Popcorn and The Matrix
Chapter 4: Digital Haunting, Vampires and Time Loops
Chapter 5: Pygmalion and Virtual Selves
Chapter 6: Babel and the Internet Tower
Chapter 7: The Invisible Cloaks, Rings and Trappings of the Capitalist Systems
Chapter 8: Digital Media as Pandora’s Box Ajar

Conclusion

Endnotes
References
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	16.01.2021
Zusatzinfo	3 bw illus
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	472 g
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
ISBN-10	1-5013-5641-0 / 1501356410
ISBN-13	978-1-5013-5641-4 / 9781501356414
Zustand	Neuware