Monday, July 25, 2011
Understanding McLuhan
I believe that Marshall McLuhan was underrated, under-appreciated, and most importantly: way ahead of his time in terms of progressive communicative thinking. The fact that he was not taken seriously by many people is just more of a testament to his unorthodox ways of thinking, rather than being a means to discredit him in any way. The film was a good history of the ups and downs in his personal life; as well as his evolving philosophies and ideas. It was incredibly funny to hear McLuhan talk about how his kids would ask him: 'why don't you have a real job, dad...like all the other dads'? Learning of his personal battles and life struggles definitely aids in the process of comprehending his true motives, ideas, and in turn--ingenuity.
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I know it is hard to understand how no one understood McLuhan and his unorthodox ways of thinking, and how it easy it is for us to say we understood him in the present, but do you think that if we lived in his generation we would understand him 50 years ago? I personally believe that he is a genius who worked his tail off at all hours of the day however I can see how others thought it was a challenge. Predicting the future was easy for him to see but I cannot see people of his time understanding his concepts without seeing proof of it. For example, one of his famous lines quoted to this day says, "I don't necessarily agree with everything I say". As a listener I sure wouldn't have believed him unless I could see what he was saying either. Maybe I'm just ignorant or in denial but it is believe to think his work was under-appreciated or underrated.
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