Philip Marchand, a
McLuhan biographer, explains the jarring effect created by a new media.
The quote below comes
from Marchand’s book entitled Marshall
McLuhan: The Medium and the Messenger:
“McLuhan hit upon a
better way of expressing the idea behind ‘the medium is the message.’ One could
simply say that every new medium created its own environment, which acted on
human sensibilities in a ‘bold and ruthless fashion.’
“The new, transformed
environment had very curious properties, according to McLuhan. Like the emperor’s
new clothes, he said, the environment was virtually invisible and
unnoticeable—subliminal like a person’s facial expression and posture, which
may change our attitude toward that person without our awareness. The reason
this new environment was invisible, McLuhan explained, was that “it saturates
the whole field of attention.”
(Marchand, p. 177)
Marshall McLuhan solo-authored only three books: The Mechanical Bride (1951), The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962), and Understanding Media (1964). Understanding Media helped McLuhan achieve fame and a unique dual status--- professor of English literature and household name.
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