This paper analyzes the treatment of media in novels by Don DeLillo. Key concepts in the study of media will be presented and explained in regard to how they are represented in DeLillo’s novels. The focus will be on the novels and not on the media, after all this is a master’s thesis in Literary and not in Communications Studies.
Media and media theory, in our age of information capitalism are, now more than ever before, a topic that deserves close scholarly attention. Media theorists agree that to study the media is to study one of the most important topics of the day and that “such study should be compulsory part of every citizens liberal education” (Fred Inglis. Media Theory. An Introduction. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990. p. 6). Most people in their daily lives are permanently surrounded by media. No matter if it is our entertainment, information, health, knowledge, memory, identity, dreams, emotions, or even our dying – all have by now been incorporated by the media. It is impossible to understand our acting and thinking without considering the influence of mediation. The entire history of mankind is inseparable from media, from language to the alphabet and the printing press all the way to today’s instant electronic communication. “Every interpretation of anything is medially determined”(Arjen Mulder. Understanding Media Theory. Language, Image, Sound, Behavior. Rotterdam: V2_Publishing/NAi Publishers, 2004. p. 179) , media are our means of understanding, it is through them that we try to make sense of the world. As this paper will show, the mass media now have an enormous influence of both public and private life of Western culture, in fact
individuals as much as nations today formulate their agendas, memories, and
identities in response to values and passions that are increasingly formed through
mechanically reproduced images (Lutz Koepnick. Walter Benjamin and the Aesthetics of Power. Lincoln/London: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. p. 213).
Images and electronic media increase their cultural authority to the disadvantage of the print medium, essentially, it has been argued, to the disadvantage of literature. Yet this paper will show how the media are, in turn, incorporated into the contemporary American novel by Don DeLillo.
Table of Contents
I Introduction
II History and Theory of the Media
1 Media History
A Oral vs. Literate Societies
B The Gutenberg Printing Press
C The Newspapers
D Photography
E Telegraph and Telephone
F The Radio
G Film
H Television
2 Media Theory / Schools of Thought
A Mass-Communication Studies in the U. S.
B The Frankfurt Institute
C British Leavisism
D Marshall McLuhan
E British Cultural Studies of the Media
F Jürgen Habermas and the Public Sphere
G Jean Baudrillard and the Mass Audience
III The Extensions of Man: Media and the Individual
1 Esthetics / Anesthetics
A In Mao II: Photography
B In White Noise: Television
2 Reality and Perception
A Photography and the Past
B Photography and Reality
i In Mao II
ii In Libra
C The Radio and Reality
i In Libra
ii In White Noise
D Television and Reality
E Mediated Perception
i In Libra
ii In White Noise
3 Identity and Experience
A Identity and Experience in White Noise
B Identity and Experience in Mao II
C Identity and Experience in Libra
D The Necessity of Mediation
i Television News
ii The Necessity of Mediation in Libra
iii The Necessity of Mediation in White Noise
E The Individual and the Mass Mind
IV Media Culture: The World of Don DeLillo’s Fiction
1 Mediaspeak
A The Proliferation of Media Voices
B The Weather
C Mediaspeak and Manipulation
2 Media, Art and Aura
A Walter Benjamin’s Artwork Essay
B Media, Art and Aura in Mao II
C Media, Art and Aura in White Noise
3 The Public and the Private Sphere
V A Stranger in Your Own Dying: Media, Death and Murder
1 Death and the Media in Mao II
2 Death and the Media in White Noise
3 Death and the Media in Libra
VI Conclusion
Objectives and Themes
This work examines the representation of media within the novels of Don DeLillo, specifically White Noise, Libra, and Mao II. The primary research goal is to investigate how media technology, mass communication, and their pervasive influence shape individual identity, perception, and the boundary between private reality and public spectacle in DeLillo’s fictional worlds.
- The intersection of mass media, perception, and contemporary American identity.
- Theoretical explorations of media history, including the work of Marshall McLuhan, Walter Benjamin, and Jean Baudrillard.
- The mediation of reality, disaster, and trauma through television and radio.
- The relationship between media saturation and the construction of selfhood or the loss of individuality.
- The representation of death and murder as mediated events in DeLillo’s literary narratives.
Excerpt from the Book
A. IN MAO II - PHOTOGRAPHY
A basic feature of all media is that they estheticise their content and anesthetise the consumer. Especially the photo-camera beautifies everything it depicts for reasons that are inherent in the medium’s message. According to Sontag “the camera’s ability to transform reality into something beautiful derives from its relative weakness as a means of conveying truth.”106 The photographic process transforms three-dimensional reality that is in constant motion onto a two-dimensional surface as a still image. Therefore the image can never be more than a representation of reality. The camera has the tendency to perceive everything as objects, as light, shadow and form. We search for form and not for truth in photographs. The still image enables us to see a fixed slice of the past as the human eye can never perceive it, the image freezes reality and thus invites esthetic contemplation. A good example of this phenomenon is illustrated in a passage from DeLillo’s Mao II.
Brita Nilsson is assigned to photograph Bill Gray, a highly reclusive and media-shy writer. Being interviewed by Bill’s assistant Scott Martineau about her career as a photographer she explains how she abolished photographing human suffering because of the camera’s effect to beautify:
But after years of this I began to think this was somehow, strangely – not valid. No matter what I shot, how much horror, reality, misery, ruined bodies, bloody faces, it was all so fucking pretty in the end.107
Summary of Chapters
I Introduction: This chapter outlines the scope of the thesis, establishing the focus on DeLillo’s novels as literary critiques of the media age and defining the methodological approach.
II History and Theory of the Media: Provides a historical overview of communication media and introduces key theoretical frameworks, including those by McLuhan, the Frankfurt School, and Baudrillard, to set the context for the analysis.
III The Extensions of Man: Media and the Individual: Analyzes the profound impact of media on human perception, identity formation, and the psychological influence of electronic communication on the individual.
IV Media Culture: The World of Don DeLillo’s Fiction: Explores the pervasive media jargon in DeLillo’s texts, the destruction of the 'aura' of art through mechanical reproduction, and the collapse of the divide between public and private life.
V A Stranger in Your Own Dying: Media, Death and Murder: Investigates the unsettling connection between the mass media and death in DeLillo’s work, illustrating how mediated representations of mortality shape the characters' experiences of their own end.
VI Conclusion: Synthesizes the findings, reflecting on the power of literature to critique media dominance and confirming the thesis that DeLillo offers a critical, albeit pessimistic, view of a reality defined by mass-produced images.
Keywords
Don DeLillo, media theory, mass communication, Marshall McLuhan, representation, postmodernism, photography, television, identity, reality, simulation, aura, death, mediation, White Noise, Libra, Mao II
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this literary thesis?
The thesis explores how Don DeLillo represents and critiques the role of mass media in contemporary American culture, specifically through his novels White Noise, Libra, and Mao II.
Which theoretical perspectives are utilized to analyze DeLillo's work?
The author draws upon various media theorists, most notably Marshall McLuhan’s concepts of medium and massage, Walter Benjamin’s essay on mechanical reproduction, and Jean Baudrillard’s theories on simulation and the hyperreal.
What is the primary objective of this investigation?
The goal is to demonstrate how DeLillo illustrates the way media technology and information saturation influence human identity, alter perception, and reshape the concept of reality for his characters.
What scientific or academic methodology is applied?
The research adopts a literary-analytical method, integrating media theory to decode the textual representation of media in DeLillo’s novels and exploring the interplay between narrative structure and the 'media-saturated' environment.
What themes does the author address in the middle chapters?
These sections focus on how media 'estheticise' reality, the dependency of characters on mediated experiences to validate their own lives, and the blurring of public and private boundaries in the age of instant electronic communication.
Which specific media forms are discussed in relation to DeLillo's novels?
The analysis covers a range of media including photography, radio, television news, and the role of 'mediaspeak' or technical jargon that infiltrates the natural language of the characters.
How does DeLillo portray the relationship between the media and death?
The author argues that media coverage transforms death into a spectacle, commodifying human mortality and alienating individuals from their own dying process, effectively turning death into a narrative device.
What is the significance of the "most photographed barn" scene in White Noise?
It serves as a key example of how mechanical reproduction and the act of taking pictures create a free-floating, self-referential 'aura' that replaces the significance of the actual physical object.
How does the thesis define the impact of media on characters like Lee Harvey Oswald in 'Libra'?
Oswald is presented as a 'creature of the media' whose motivations for assassination are inextricably linked to his desire for fame and his attempt to insert himself into the historical narratives he consumed through film and television.
What conclusion does the author reach regarding the novelist's role in the media age?
The thesis suggests that the writer must remain on the margins of society, distanced from the system, to maintain the critical perspective necessary to challenge the totalizing effects of mass media culture.
- Quote paper
- M.A. Jan Riepe (Author), 2006, The Future Belongs To Crowds: Media in Don DeLillo's Libra, Mao II and White Noise, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/80337
