Yun-Csang Ghimn
University of Alberta/Athabasca University, Canada
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Published in: Inter: A European Cultural Studies : Conference in Sweden 11-13 June 2007
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 25:23, p. 217-225
Published: 2007-11-27
ISBN:
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
The early modern concept of communicatio—i.e. “action from a distance” such as Locke’s association by deus ex machina and Newton’s general attraction—returned in the late 19th century; getting aroused not only by science but also technologies for example “spirit” photography and Roentgen’s discovery. Edison attempted to penetrate the skull and Jordan to capture thoughts on a “psychic retina;” both in vain. These are more than hoaxes since; without people’s fascination over extrasensory perception; Jordan e.g. could not have rhetorically validated his investigation merely by adopting radiological credibility; how do we explain this wishful expectation? Huhtamo et al.’s media archaeology undertakes “first; the study of the cyclically recurring elements and motives underlying and guiding the development of media culture; second; the ‘excavation’ of the ways in which these discursive traditions and formulations have been ‘imprinted’ on specific media machines and systems in different historical contexts; contributing to their identity in terms of socially and ideologically specific webs of signification.” Hence depicting medical or everyday media as ones for any unknown world (or mediums) remains consistent in many Japanese horror films—Cure (phonographic record); Ring (video tape); Pulse (internet); Dark Water (instant picture); One Missed Call (mobile phone).