Influence in our society

Although there may be a lot of people who may look at the Olsen twins condescendingly with their history of fame, fashion and scandals, the girls actually have really insightful views on art, culture and media. I also personally love these girls, I don’t care what you say about them, they are so awesome.. anyways;

In their latest book, ‘Influence’, the girls interview the people who they think help contribute to and shape today’s cultural landscape. There was one interview that really striked me into making me think of of how our generation is changing it’s means of producing and distributing media. In an interview between the girls and Bob Colacello, who was the editor of Interview magazine in 1971 alongside Andy Warhol they speak of the change in media in a negative light;

“Bob colacello: …everything’s so accessible. I don’t even email, but now people are texting while you’re at dinner. I guess it’s great in a way.
Ashley Olsen: It’s great but it’s awful
Bob Colacello: I mean, I don’t really want to watch movies or listen to music on my cell phone when I’m out to dinner. I don’t need to have my radio and VCR traveling with me. I don’t know if this is really a good thing. We’ve been going in this direction for so long – that’s what Andy foresaw when he said in the future everybody will be famous for fifteen minutes. The total media takeover of the world. We’ve become a society in which we spend so much time looking at ourselves and entertaining ourselves that we don’t really produce very much anymore. After airplanes, our number two American export is entertainment. I don’t know if this is really healthy for a society.
Ashley Olsen: Well, look at our society. It’s really hard not to think that if we were focusing on the right things, and everything wasn’t so accessible, then there would be a little bit more balance.

So from having a read of the Interview it really made me think. In our course we’re caught up in analysing the ‘great’ and ‘wonderful’ innovations and effects these technologies have upon extending our interests and information within society.

But I don’t believe we’ve really discussed the negative implications of this fast paced attention driven society. Andy Warhol was right in saying everyone in the future will have their fifteen minutes of fame; Chris Crocker certainly had his fifteen minutes, and names such as celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, Model Cory Kennedy and youtube blogger lonelygirl15 all justify Warhol’s vision. Personally these names and this sort of media and attention is my entertainment. When I find myself with nothing to do, the first thing I’ll do is log onto the internet and read Perez Hilton’s latest update on the Rhianna/Chris brown assualts or watch fellow youtube bloggers talk about their trivial lives.

But I can’t deny that these things are a novelty. Although many do argue that great culture and art has liberated from these forms of mediums as more people have been able to voice out their views and talents, I feel that Colacello was right in saying that “we don’t produce much anymore…everything gets dumbed down to appeal to the masses.” All this media attention seems to be sourced upon these sort of trivial things, so that consequently the real rich culture behind this society gets lost within it.

This book is quite enlightening and inspiring even if you don’t like the Olsens. There is actually quite not a lot about the girls, and is more based on the people interviewed than themselves.

So go on, have a read.

The first note..

Media.
To say it simply, I’m intrigued by how it works.
Fascinated at how relational it is to everyone, although the degree of interest within it may not be the same. We find ourselves consumed within it, and continually engaged with different aspects of it.
Over the last few years, I’ve seen the evolution and addiction within media. From growing up consuming television shows such as playschool, to now actively engaging in social networking websites, such as Facebook and Myspace.

Ever since studying this course, my awareness and attention towards it’s processes and strategies have become more alert. I can’t help but occasionally watch a television show or browse internet sites and think of the concepts behind these mediums that are changing and shaping our contemporary society for what it is today.

In saying this, my greatest desire would be to be able to significantly and creatively contribute towards this ever changing mass consuming industry called media.