A Comparison Between McLuhan And Poster’s Thought Of Subjectivity In Media Poetics

The article distinguishing and analyzing the thoughts of subjectivity in McLuhan’s and Poster’s media poetics.Both the empirical school and the critical school focus on the impact of the content carried by media on society and human culture.The medium which bearing information,are separated form the content of information,and the latter is always centered.The two media scholars are oriented by media studies,but the essence of their concern is "human”,in other words,“subject".Therefore,through comparing the study of McLuhan and Poster’s "subjectivity" thoughts,this paper focuses on the historical transformation and internal logic of subjectivity in media poetics from modern to Post-modern in the 20 th century.The introduction defines the concepts of "media poetics" and "subjectivity",explains the reasons for selecting McLuhan and Poster for comparison,and the research status of their studies.And the development of the thought of "subjectivity" in the history of western poetics.The first chapter analyzes and contrasts the perception mode of the subject.McLuhan maintains that the subject is perceptual rather than interpretative,and he regards human as subjects with independent perception.McLuhan has firm faith in the subjectivity and independence of human beings.However,Poster’s "human-machine interaction" theory believes that a symbiotic synthesis has been formed between human and machine,and the independence of the subject has been eliminated,meanwhile both human and machine are co-existing as the subject synthesis at the same time.Chapter two analyzes the views of McLuhan and Poster on the identity of subject discourse.The key point of attacking the rational subject is its extreme,namely instrumental rationality.McLuhan tried to replace the subject,while Poster wanted to completely subvert it.As for the electronic media,they both believed it eliminated the traditional "center-edge" binary structure and the authority center.However McLuhan believed that the world would be an equal "global village" after the elimination of authority,while Poster thought a database of homogeneity would be formed after the elimination.Chapter three summarizes and compares McLuhan’s and Poster’s theories on the existence and characteristics of subjects in the media age.Based on modern and Post-modern theories,this chapter clarifies the theoretical roots of the rational and self-disciplined identity of subject images and the discrete,multiple and decentralized subject images in McLuhan’s and Poster’s media poetics.It also analyzes the similarities and differences of the two main ideas from the evolution of western philosophy and aesthetics.By distinguishing and analyzing the thoughts of subjectivity in McLuhan’s and Poster’s media poetics,I think their subject views are complementary and common,they reflect the typical characteristics of modern and post-modern and enrich the theory of modern media and subjectivity,which provide us a new angle to rethink and summarize the evolution of the modern in the 20 th century to post-modern.More importantly,it enlighten us to identify and define ourselves in the new wave of technological revolution.