Stuart Ewen – Channels of Desire; Prologue 

Vignettes

Viewed individually they are ultimately absurd

Viewed collectively: “They reveal a pattern of life, the structures of perception.”

    - perception is structured by the mass images that are perceived

    - embedded in each is its historical prerequisite, viz., an industrial consumer society

 

Mass images

Images that are mass-produced and mass distributed

Omnipresent - everywhere in evidence; largely inescapable

 

Query: What are the vast majority of the mass images we encounter?

A:

 

Impacts

The images impact people

• belief systems
• hopes
• fears
• wallets

They offer us the familiar and in their familiarity often go unnoticed - subliminally reinforcing their message

 

Origin

Require certain means of production

• mass production
• re: industrial revolution (late 18^th century)

 

Require a specific mode of production

• images aimed at potential consumers
• re: market society, i.e., capitalist mode of production