| Neil Postman(1931-2003), who is a famous American media cultural critic and educator in the 20 th century. He sharply criticized the electronic media, especially TV, for its negative effects to human culture, society, and human themselves. And lead to his own viewpoint on TV media.Postman inherited and developed the theory of media bias and the theory of medium is message, which are from two famous Canadian scholars, Inis and Mcluhan. And put forward his own media view: medium is the metaphor and the medium is the epistemology. He also clarified the relation between media and technology at the same time. Mainly based on the media-tech promoting theory, proposed by Mumford and Mcluhan, he put forward the three stages corresponding culture with technology development theory, which focuses on the threat of technological monopoly to culture. Comparing the era of print and the era of TV, Postman criticizes the negative consequences of the television media, and redefines the concept of entertainment, childhood, aesthetic education, democracy and politics, further studys the role played by TV media in human perception, human mind and the people’s living state. Postman’s ideas of television show a strong humanistic thought, and holds on to humanistic tradition, attaches great importance to human value and meaning of life. While showing the negative effects brought by TV in a pessimistic attitude, he hopes to remind us to live the real life, and think about the alienation consequences brought by media-tech.Postman’s TV media research is an important part of mass culture research. He mainly focuses on three aspects of mass culture, and criticizes TV, the typical represent of mass culture in multi-level and multi-angle, which makes his thought has an important position in the mass culture critical theory. When Postman does the study of TV media, he mainly focuses on negative impact of electronic media on people. He thinks that people are passive instead of initiative and creative when facing TV. He holds the critical attitude toward mass culture. When studying the television media, he emphasis on the contrast TV and the printing, gives high praise to people’s rational, calm in the era of printing. Postman criticized the dangers of electronic media from the view of human. He shows us the characteristics of the elite intellectuals. |
