Aleksandr Andreas Wansbrough

Capitalism and the Enchanted Screen (eBook, ePUB)

Myths and Allegories in the Digital Age

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

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.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
• Seitenzahl: 232
• Erscheinungstermin: 10. Dezember 2020
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781501356407
• Artikelnr.: 60650551

Autorenporträt

Aleks Wansbrough lectures at the University of Sydney, Australia. He has written popular and academic articles concerning the tragic in relation to film and philosophy. He is also the editorial manager of the Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture.