Shows
Critical Media Studies#106: Bernard Steigler - Elements of Pharmacology, pt. 2This is part two of our discussion of Bernard Steigler's "Elements of Pharmacology". This time, Barry and Michael focus on Stiegler's discussion of the unique challenges posed by new digital 'pharmaka.'
2025-11-1432 minCritical Media Studies#105: Bernard Steigler - Elements of PharmacologyThis week on Critical Media Studies, Barry and Michael discuss Bernard Stiegler's "Elements of Pharmacology," a transcription of an interview with the French philosopher from June 2020, just two months prior to Stiegler's passing. This episode focuses on Stiegler's exposition of his key term "the pharmakon" and the defining role it plays in his media theory.
2025-10-3131 minCritical Media Studies#98: The Re-enchanted World - Karl KnausgaardIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Karl Ove Knausgaard’s article, “The Reenchanted World: On Finding Mystery in the Digital Age.” They examine Knausgaard’s proposed solution to the problem of the separation of knowledge from experience in an increasingly technological world.
2025-07-2542 minCritical Media Studies#97: AI in Art. A follow up to the Rob Horning discussion.In this episode Barry and Mike continue their discussion of the place of AI in art. They experiment with Suno and discuss the results. You can listen to those results at the links below. Barry's Tomatoes Barry's Tomatoes as Rock and Roll
2025-07-1135 minCritical Media Studies#96: Rob Horning - No One's VersionIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Rob Horning’s Substack essay, “No One’s Version” and whether the world needs an AI generated song about Barry growing tomatoes in the style of “Sympathy for the Devil” with the horns from Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and a guitar line to be determined (we think it does).
2025-06-2748 minCritical Media Studies#95: Jenny Odell - How To Do Nothing, pt. 2In this episode Barry and Mike continue their discussion of Jenny Odell’s book, “How To Do Nothing,” focusing on the importance of attention in producing critical thought. They then connect these ideas to previous discussions on the Taste Economy.
2025-06-1340 minCritical Media Studies#94: Jenny Odell - How to Do NothingThis is the first of two episodes on Jenny Odell’s book (and talk) “How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy.” Barry and Mike discuss the broad outlines of Odell’s project and attempt to connect it to Daisy Alioto’s understanding of the Taste Economy.In/Visible Talks 2018: Jenny Odell - How To Do Nothing
2025-05-3041 minCritical Media Studies#93: Daisy Alioto - The Taste EconomyIn this episode Barry and Mike continue their discussion onthe “Taste Economy” and the evolution of the internet from 2.0 to 3.0. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUnYbLoyplohttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/11/style/dirt-newsletter-daisy-alioto.html
2025-05-1641 minCritical Media Studies#92: Kyle Chayka - How to Cultivate Taste in the Age of Algorithms/The New Generation of Online Culture Curators.In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Kyle Chayka’s essays and offer a primer on the new online “Taste Economy.” How to Cultivate Taste in the Age of AlgorithmsThe New Generation of Online Culture Curators
2025-05-0240 minCritical Media Studies#91: The Episode That is Not on Heidegger or His Letter on Humanism (but sort of is).In this episode Barry and Mike talk about Heidegger and what comes after philosophy and how that helps us to think about the role of the contemporary university.
2025-04-181h 19Critical Media Studies#90: Heidegger - The Question Concerning TechnologyIn this episode Barry and Mike take a different approach to Heidegger's The Question Concerning Technology. Rather than a traditional "what does all this mean" approach grounded in historical context, they look at the essay with a specific eye towards understanding what Heidegger can teach us about our current digital media culture and the essay's relevance for our interactions in the age of the internet and near total interconnection.
2025-04-0445 minCritical Media Studies#89: Harold Innis - Minerva’s OwlThis episode focuses on Harold Innis’ 1947 presidentialaddress to the Royal Society of Canada, “Minerva’s Owl” and his appendix to theaddress. Barry and Mike discuss how Innis charts the relationships among power,knowledge, and technologies and their relations to the durability of imperialsystems.
2025-03-2158 minCritical Media Studies#88: Revisiting Deleuze's "Postscript on the Society of Control"In this episode Barry and Mike revisit Gilles Deleuze’s essay “Postscript on the Society of Control.” They attempt to reframe the central arguments of the essay in terms of our current digital culture.
2025-03-0750 minCritical Media Studies#87: Alan Turing - Computer Machinery and IntelligenceIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Alan Turing’s 1950 essay, “Computer Machinery and Intelligence” and discuss whether or not Turing’s concept of machine intelligence is a contradiction in terms.
2025-02-211h 07Critical Media Studies#86: Freddie deBoer - The Indoor Plumbing TestIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss “The Indoor Plumbing Test” by cultural critic Freddie deBoer and ponder the question: Is AI only hype?
2025-02-0749 minCritical Media Studies#85: Derek Thompson - The Anti-Social CenturyIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Derek Thompson’s Atlantic essay, “The Anti-Social Century.” They discuss how the evolution of media technologies over the last 50 years, culminating in the development of AI have produced our current state of technologically enhanced solitude.The Anti-Social CenturyI'm In Love With Chat GPT
2025-01-241h 01Critical Media Studies#84: Wai Chee Dimock – AI and the HumanitiesIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Wai Chee Dimock’s PMLA editor’s column, AI in the Humanities. After a brief summary of her argument they focus on the practicality of a humanistic approach to designing AI and its possible impacts.
2025-01-1047 minCritical Media Studies#83: Matteo Wong - The GPT Era Is Already EndingIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Matteo Wong’s Dec. 9th article in The Atlantic, “The GPT Era Is Already Ending.” They trace the algorithmic shift from Chat GPT to 01 and discuss whether this transition gets any closer to genuine intelligence. We encourage you to listen to the previous episode on Benjamin Labatut’s “The Gods of Reason” as a primer for this one.
2024-12-2748 minCritical Media Studies#82: Benjamin Labatut - The Gods of Logic: Before and After Artificial IntelligenceIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Benjamin Labatut’s essay, “The Gods of Logic: Before and After Artificial Intelligence. In tracing his historical approach to the development of AI, Barry and Mike highlight the unpredictability of language as opposed to the certainty of mathematics.Link to article.
2024-12-1359 minCritical Media Studies#81: Jodi Dean - Blog TheoryIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Jodi Dean’s book, “Blog Theory.” They focus on her notion of “communicative capitalism,” treating the book as a time capsule of sorts. They take her arguments from 2010 and suggest their relevance to our current situation in 2024.
2024-11-2956 minCritical Media Studies#80: Bolter and Grusin, pt. 2In this episode Barry and Mike discuss chapter one of Bolter and Grusin’s book and attempt to define their foundational term, remediation.
2024-11-1553 minCritical Media Studies#79: Bolter and Grusin - Remediation pt. 1In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin’s introduction to their 1999 Media Studies book, Remediation. In particular, they discuss the four key concepts that Bolter and Grusin introduce: mediation, remediation, immediacy, and hypermediacy.
2024-11-0151 minCritical Media Studies#78: Kember and Zylinska pt.2In the follow up to their previous episode, Barry and Mike discuss how Kember and Zylinska use Steigler’s notion of an “originary technicity” to articulate a third position between the philosophy Raymond Williams and Marshall McLuhan.
2024-10-181h 02Critical Media Studies#77: Kember and Zylinska - Mediation and the Vitality of Media pt. 1This is the first of two episodes on Kember and Zylinska’s essay “Mediation and the Vitality of Media” from their book, Life after New Media: Mediation as a Vital Process (2012). Barry and Mike discuss the problems with and reasons for the binary divisions in media theory, particularly the way in which the field understands the relations between “old” and “new” media. Kember and Zylinska note that the contradictions in the field stem from unresolved tensions in the McLuhan/Williams debate. We discuss their attempts to overcome the binary.
2024-10-0456 minCritical Media Studies#76: Bruno Latour - "On Actor-Network Theory: A few clarifications"Barry and Mike discuss Bruno Latour’s essay, “On Actor-Network Theory: A few clarifications.” They work through his key terms in an attempt to better understand the new meanings he ascribes to actors and networks and what this theory allows us to do with media theory.
2024-09-201h 09Critical Media Studies#75: Distant Early Warning: a reflection on media environments and art after McLuhanIn this episode Barry and Mike continue their discussion of William Burroughs’ cut-up method. They introduce Alex Kitnick’s arguments about the Media is the Massage from his book Distant Early Warning: Marshall McLuhan and the Transformation of the Avant-Garde in order to illuminate Burroughs’ practice.
2024-09-0655 minCritical Media Studies#74: Burroughs - The Cut-UpIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss William Burroughs’ 1963 manifesto “The Cut-Up Method.” We worry over some contradictions and tensions in his “new” method of writing.
2024-08-2353 minCritical Media Studies#73: Evgeny Morozov - Can AI Break Out of Panglossian Neoliberalism?#73 In this episode Barry and Mike discuss “Panglossian Neoliberalism,”a term that Evgeny Morozov uses to describe the place of generative AI in thehands of venture capitalists.Can AI Break out of Panglossian Neoliberalism?The True Threat of Artificial Intelligencea sense oF rebellion podcast
2024-08-0958 minCritical Media Studies#72: Simone Weil -- AttentionThis is a look back at our 3/3/23 episode on Simone Weil.
2024-07-2651 minCritical Media Studies#71: Bernard Steigler - What Makes Life Worth Living, pt. 2In this episode Barry and Mike return to Bernard Steigler’s What Makes Life Worth Living: On Pharmakology. They tease out Steigler’s terms proletarianism and disintoxification, as well as our possible roles in resisting the poison and fostering the growth of the cure in the pharmakon.
2024-07-1255 minCritical Media Studies#70: Bernard Steigler - What Makes Life Worth LivingIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Bernard Steigler’s 2010 book, What Makes Life Worth Living: On Pharmacology. They reconsider their understanding of the pharmakon from Steigler’s other work and discuss the significance of care in pharmakology.
2024-06-2847 minCritical Media Studies#69: On Life’s Terrifying Vacuity: Chayka, Han, and Benjamin.In this episode, Barry and Mike finish their discussion of Chayka on Han and Benjamin’s essay, “The Storyteller.” In teasing out Han and Benjamin’s ideas about the distinction between narration and information, they land on the problem posed by the contemporary digital campfire.
2024-06-1457 minCritical Media Studies#68: Benjamin - The StorytellerIn this episode, Barry and Mike focus exclusively on the distinction between the storyteller and the novelist as explained in Walter Benjamin’s 1936 essay, “The Storyteller.”
2024-05-3149 minCritical Media Studies#67: Kyle Chayka - "The Internet's New Favorite Philosopher - Byung-Chul HanIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Kyle Chayka’s assessment of the “Internet’s New Favorite Philosopher,” Byung-Chul Han. For those unfamiliar with Han's media theory, we encourage you to click the link above and read the Chayka article before listening to the episode.
2024-05-1738 minCritical Media Studies#66 Sonny Bunch - The Future of Media is PassiveIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss the “Sonny Bunch Hosts the Bulwark Goes to Hollywood” episode “The Future of Media is Passive” and the notion of “linear streaming.” The ponder what it says about our distracted worlds.
2024-05-1049 minCritical Media Studies#65: Andrew Milne - Tourists In Our Own Reality: Susan Sontag's Photography at 50In this episode Barry and Mike talk about Andrew Milne’s essay, “Tourists in our own Reality: Susan Sontag’s Photography at 50” in an attempt to update her arguments for the digital age. They puzzle over what it means to have an authentic relationship to photographs, or to be authentic ourselves.
2024-04-261h 09Critical Media Studies#64: Jonathan Crary - Scorched Earth, pt. 2In this episode Barry and Mike discuss chapter 2 of of Jonathan Crary’s “Scorched Earth.” They focus on social media as a pharmacological problem within the Internet Complex.
2024-04-1242 minCritical Media Studies#63: Jonathan Crary - Scorched EarthBarry and Mike discuss Jonathan Crary’s critique of the “internet complex” and what it means.
2024-03-291h 08Critical Media Studies#62: Siegfried Kracauer - Cult of Distraction: On Berlin's Picture PalacesBarry and Mike discuss Siegfried Kracauer's 1926 essay "Cult of Distraction: On Berlin's Picture Palaces." Written nearly 100 years ago, the essay is strangely relevant to our current political landscape. We pay special attention to Kracauer's unique notion of distraction, which contra Stiegler, Kracauer views as a stimulus to thought.
2024-03-1547 minCritical Media Studies#61: Yanis Varoufakis - TechnofeudalismBarry and Mike discuss Yanis Varoufakis' book, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, and the challenge it presents to Marxist theories about global capital.
2024-03-0145 minCritical Media StudiesEvgeny Morozov - Only DisconnectIn this episode Barry and Mike relate Evgeny Morozov’s 2013 New Yorker essay, “Only Disconnect” to their previous discussion of A. Romero’s meditation on boredom and distraction and the internet.
2024-02-1638 minCritical Media StudiesAlberto Romero - The Most Important Skill in the 21st CenturyIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss “The Most Important Skill in the 21st Century,” Alberto Romero’s polemical defense of boredom in the media entertainment age. They discuss whether it’s possible to be bored today in the way that Romero seems to require.
2024-02-0245 minCritical Media StudiesPhilip K. Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric SheepIn this episode Barry and Mike return to the earlier discussion of Sherry Turkle’s “Alone Together” and question her conclusion regarding the human/robotic distinction in light of PKD’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”
2024-01-191h 10Critical Media StudiesSherry Turkle - Alone TogetherIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Sherry Turkle’s “Alone Together” and her thesis, that though technology opens new possibilities for communication it simultaneously alienates us from each other, leaving us wanting for emotional connections. We wonder whether Turkle is right and whether authentic relationships are possible.
2024-01-051h 01Critical Media StudiesKazuo Ishiguro - Klara and the Sun pt. 2In this episode Barry and Mike resume their discussion of Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Klara and the Sun.” They discuss how differences in class and education determine how the various characters relation to Kara as an embodiment of technology.
2023-12-2254 minCritical Media StudiesKazuo Ishiguro - Klara and the Sun pt. 1Change is good! Barry and Mike shift the focus of their discussions on technology to look more closely at what it means to be human in a technologically dominated world. This episode looks at Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, "Klara and the Sun" and investigates his questions about the spaces between humanity and technology.
2023-12-0859 minCritical Media StudiesMarshall McLuhan - The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects pt. 2In this episode Barry and Mike wrap up their discussion of Marshall McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects,” focusing on the question of education and media.
2023-11-241h 03Critical Media StudiesMarshall McLuhan - The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of EffectsIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Marshal McLuhan’s seminal text, The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. They discuss the form of the book and some of the key opening arguments.
2023-11-101h 19Critical Media StudiesJohn Law - Monsters, Machines, and Sociotechnical RelationsIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss the three central issues raised by John Law in the introduction to his 1991 anthology, “Sociology of Monsters”: the problem of epistemology; the problem of the social; the problem of distribution. Law argues that the coming together of Sociology and STS (science, technology, society) offers an opportunity to address these issues in meaningful and ethical ways.
2023-10-271h 05Critical Media StudiesDenise Lu - Want to Enjoy Music More? Stop Streaming it.In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Denise Lu’s recent New York Times editorial, “Want to Enjoy Music More? Stop Streaming It. Build a real music collection. Reintroduce intimacy to the songs you care about.” They attempt to re-frame the article in CMS friendly terms and end up with an extended investigation of the nature of intimacy and the archive.
2023-10-131h 01Critical Media StudiesThe 50th episode- a look back.On the occasions of their 50th episode, Barry and Mike get reflective. The discuss the purpose or intent of the show, their favorite episodes, what they’d do over, and the biggest surprises that they’ve encountered so far.
2023-09-2941 minCritical Media StudiesJohn Law – Notes on the Theory of the Actor Network: Ordering, Strategy, and Heterogeneity.In this episode Barry and Mike discussion John Law’s 1992 essay, “Notes on the Theory of the Actor Network: Ordering, Strategy, and Heterogeneity” and in particular Law’s concepts of network composition, punctualisation, and translation.
2023-09-151h 11Critical Media StudiesBruno Latour - On Actor-Network Theory: A few clarificationsBarry and Mike discuss Bruno Latour’s essay, “On Actor-Network Theory: A few clarifications.” They work through his key terms in an attempt to better understand the new meanings he ascribes to actors and networks and what this theory allows us to do with media theory.
2023-09-011h 08Critical Media StudiesJacques Attali - NoiseIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss a chapter from Jacques Attali, book, Noise: The Political Economy of Music. Following on their discussion from the Glenn Gould episode, they interrogate at Attali's take on the impacts of recorded music as an archive and as background noise.
2023-08-181h 08Critical Media StudiesHorkheimer and Adorno - The Culture IndustryBarry and Mike wrap their discussions on Horkheimer and Adorno.(This episode somehow never got published back in December. It's a little extra nugget for those of you who want more)
2023-08-1554 minCritical Media StudiesGlenn Gould - The Prospects of RecordingIn this episode Barry and Mike talk about Glenn Gould’s essay “The Prospects of Recording.” They focus on two central arguments from the essay – how technology creates the new, empowered, listener and the significance of background music.
2023-08-041h 05Critical Media StudiesAndre Bazin's New MediaIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Andre Bazin’s collection of essays on new media and how the evolution of television and technological development impact how we see film. Specifically, they discuss how “Industrial Art” challenges traditional ideas about aesthetics.
2023-07-211h 14Critical Media StudiesDerrida - Signature, Event, ContextIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Derrida's 1972 talk turned essay, "Signature, Event, Context." The episode engages his critique of Plato and Austin and turns to the relevance of his findings as they relate to AI. The discussion ends on a thought provoking read of human connection and the authenticity of language. They wonder, is AI a threat, or does it highlight our embarrassment over our inability to generate authentic language in the quest for human connection?
2023-07-071h 08Critical Media StudiesAdorno - Opera and the Long-Playing RecordAt Mike's insistence, the guys return for a second consecutive Adorno episode. "Opera and the Long-Playing Record" sees Adorno pivot, celebrating the advances and opportunities that the vinyl record affords music beyond archival purposes. Here, rather than denegrating vinyl as being a cheap proxy container for art, Adorno adopts a hopeful position, celebrating its ability to save art from staleness and its ability to create virtual spaces where art can be enjoyed free of distraction.
2023-06-2358 minCritical Media StudiesAdorno - The Form of the Phonographic RecordIn this episode Barry and Mike work through Adorno's "The Form of the Phonographic Record", extrapolating his arguments against technology and the phonograph and marveling at the surprising about-face at the end of the essay.
2023-06-0955 minCritical Media StudiesDina Litovsky - The Problem of AI Photography is Not the Medium, It's the MessageIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss an essay by Dina Litovsky, "The Problem of AI Photography is not the Medium, It's the Message." They channel previous discussions on Susan Sontag, Andre Bizan and Jean Baudrillard to talk about the hyper-real, the role of AI in art and photography, and where the boundary between what we consider legitimate and illigitimate may be in contemporary art.
2023-05-261h 03Critical Media StudiesBaudrillard - The Precession of SimulacraIn this episode Mike and Barry take the Baudrillardian grand tour: we visit Disneyland, Los Angeles, Viet Nam, and pause to consider the philosophical significance of the 1972 Watergate break-in. In other words, we discuss “The Precession of Simulacra” by Jean Baudrillard (from “Simulacra and Simulation,” 1981) , the text that introduced readers to the “hyperreal,” the idea that what we call reality is a media construct, a product of the symbol systems that saturate our lives. We consider how Baudrillard’s ideas are echoed in the texts by Plato, Susan Sontag, and Andre Bazin recently discussed on the CMS podcast, and fl...
2023-05-121h 02Critical Media StudiesAndre Bazin - Ontology of the Photographic ImageIn the “Ontology of the Photographic Image,” Andre Bazin makes the provocative claim that the invention of photography is "clearly the most important event in the history of the plastic arts." At the same time, Bazin questions our naïve faith that the photographic image is just as real as the object that it depicts. He goes on to provide an alternative history of painting and photography, highlighting the ways we value mechanical agency over human creativity. In this episode, Barry and Mike discuss Bazin's essay and also consider how the digitization of images has further altered "the history of th...
2023-04-2852 minCritical Media StudiesSusan Sontag - In Plato's CaveIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Susan Sontag’s essay In Plato’s Cave from her book: On Photography. In this essay Sontag argues that photographs are much like the images that the prisoners in Plato’s cave see reflected on the walls: representations of reality, but not reality itself. Sontag argues that, like Plato’s prisoners, we too have difficulty distinguishing the image from the event that they represent. Additionally, she claims that these images, though different than what they represent, still have the power to produce an emotional response from viewers. Barry and Mike bring Sontag...
2023-04-141h 07Critical Media StudiesJonathan Crary- 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of SleepIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Jonathan Crary’s book, 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep. Though there are a few detours, the discussion focuses on two of Crary’s central arguments: the devaluation of sleep, and the human cost of living as a part of the technological spectacle (to borrow a little bit from DeBord). The discussion goes a little bit long, but we had a really good time talking about this. We hope you enjoy!
2023-03-311h 00Critical Media StudiesGuy Debord - The Society of the SpectacleIn This episode of the Critical Media Studies podcast we discuss Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle. As the book is aphoristic, rather than trying to address the work as a whole, Barry and Mike look at what Debord means by Spectacle and hone in on a few particular sections (24-28). The focus of this episode settles around the question of whether or not there is a continuity between Debord's mediated society and our own digital mediasphere. We hope you enjoy and welcome any feedback or suggestions.
2023-03-1759 minCritical Media StudiesSimone Weil - AttentionIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss the French Christian mystic Simone Weil and her focus on attention and its role in the “right way” of doing things. This discussion picks up on the previous episode with Byung Chul Han regarding distraction and multi-tasking. Though this chat functions as a stand-alone discussion, In some ways this is a continuation of that previous discussion. If you’ve not done so, you may want to listen to the previous episode first. Either way, we hope you enjoy! As always, please feel free to leave us comments or questions. We love to hea...
2023-03-0351 minCritical Media StudiesByung Chul Han - Boredom and MultitaskingIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Byung Chul Han’s “The Burnout Society” with an eye to his discussion of multitasking and the loss of what Han calls “profound boredom.” The discussion invokes Bernard Steigler’s concept of noesis and Jauques Eleul’s concept of technique as a means of better understanding the spaces of focus and attention in the modern world.
2023-02-1741 minCritical Media StudiesRaymond Williams - Television, pt. 2Barry and Mike pick up their discussion on Raymond Williams’ monograph, Television: Technology and Cultural From. In their previous episode they covered the idea that media technologies are answers to specific problems, rather than inventions looking for applications. In this episode they discuss how Williams’ ideas fit and clash with Marshal McLuhan’s ideas of media as being self-determining. In short, they look at whether the tensions between Williams and McLuhan is a case of a terminological incompatibility, or whether the two philosophies of media technologies really do argue for different models and outcomes.
2023-02-031h 03Critical Media StudiesRaymond Williams - Television, pt. 1Barry and Mike begin their discussion of Raymond Williams’ 1974 book, Television. Their discussion revolves around the question of the place and purpose of media as a social process. The crux of the debate revolves around the question: Is television a solution looking for a problem, or is it, rather, the form that contains both? As a part of this, naturally, they go back to “their dear friend” Marshall McLuhan, who functions as a useful foil in teasing out the threads of possible insights. As always, we hope you enjoy!
2023-01-2052 minCritical Media StudiesAdorno and Horkheimer - Antisemitism and takeawaysBarry and Mike wrap up their discussion on The Dialectic of Enlightenment by taking on the final section on antisemitism and then offering their takeaways from the book. It’s a long discussion that covers a good bit of ground. Among other topics, they spend time talking about the dangers of partially understood ideologies, the role of access to public services (and how belonging to the to public creates impressions of authenticity), and the problems of conflating access with progress.
2023-01-0656 minCritical Media StudiesHorkheimer and Adorno - The Culture IndustryWhat do Taylor Swift, Beethoven, and Raidohead have in common?In the fourth part of their series on Horkheimer and Adorno’s“Dialectic of Enlightenment” Barry and Mike talk about the “Culture Industry.” Among other topics, they discuss how money influences how art gets made and how capitalism impacts media. We hope you enjoy!
2022-12-2354 minCritical Media StudiesHorkheimer and Adorno - Juliette or Enlightenment and MoralityHorkheimer and Adorno – Juliette or Enlightenment and MoralityIn this episode, Barry and Mike discuss "Excursis two: Juliette or Enlightenment and Morality," from Horkheimer and Adorno's "The Dialectic of Enlightenment." Here Adprno and Horkheimer argue that, despite their many differences, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant and the French libertine writer the Marquis de Sade shared one idea in common: they both believed that Enlightenment reason could be wholly separated from moral concerns. In doing so, they both made it intellectually respectable to subordinate morality to power and thus indirectly led to the rise of fascism. We...
2022-12-0943 minCritical Media StudiesHorkheimer and Adorno - Odysseus or Myth and EnlightenmentBarry and Mike take on Odysseus or Myth and Enlightenment, the second chapter of Horkheimer and Adorno’s “Dialectic of Enlightenment,” focusing on three key moments in the story of Odysseus' journey: the encounters with Circe, the Cyclops, and his return home. They explore the ways that Horkheimer and Adorno’s understanding of Enlightenment thinking is manifest in Odysseus’ actions, perhaps most evident in his uncanny ability to leverage myth in order to succeed in his endeavors. In Barry’s words, “He’s a problem solver, that Odysseus.”
2022-11-2542 minCritical Media StudiesHorkheimer and Adorno - The Concept of EnlightenmentThe people have spoken! One of our listeners, Jessica, asked if we would do an episode on the Frankfurt school, preferably Horkheimer and Adorno. And when you folks ask, we oblige!In prepping for an episode on chapter two of the Dialectic of Enlightenment, Barry and Mike asked the age old question: Why just do one chapter of incredibly dense German philosophy when you can take on the book in its entirety? So that's what we're beginning here.Over the next five episodes we will be discussing the individual chapters of The Dialectic of Enlightenment...
2022-11-1138 minCritical Media StudiesWalter Benjamin - The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological ReproducabilityIn this episode Barry and Mike wrestle with the idea of updating Benjamin's article "The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility." Of the many questions that they attempt to address, perhaps the central one is: Can we update Bejmanin's theory and still maintain its philosophical integrity? Or has the digitization of virtually all media created an environment where his terms remain useful as a starting point, but ultimately anachronistic? Spoiler alert - They do not reach a definitive conclusion. However, as with most of the episodes, they do wander into new questions and...
2022-10-281h 00Critical Media StudiesStuart Hall - Encoding and DecodingIn this episode Barry and Mike take up Stuart Hall's 1980 essay, Encoding and Decoding. They discuss how his arguments hold up after 40+ years and what our participation in the current media landscape mean for not only consumption, but the production of meaning as well.
2022-10-1455 minCritical Media StudiesWendy Chun - Updating to Remain the SameBarry and Mike discuss Wendy Chun's book, "Updating to Remain the Same" and discuss the political and social implications of her arguments. They begin by deconstructing the terms of her argument that Crisis + Habit = Update and pay particular attention to the role that Chun assigns neoliberalism in defining the perpetually shifting nature of our networked selves. This one gets a little messy.
2022-09-301h 00Critical Media StudiesMichael Miller- Platforms of Control: Social Media and the Limits of Theroretical PluralismBarry and Mike discuss the main ideas in Michael Miller's article. They specifically hone in on three of his main arguments:1. That as it is often utilized on social media, (T)heory functions more as a means of accruing social capital than as a foundation for debate 2. That what he calls "weak theory" becomes anti-intellectual" in its attempt to create moral superiority3. About the public value of "progressive punitivism" as a means of achieving a moral high ground.In addition to...
2022-09-1652 minCritical Media StudiesBurroughs - The Limits of ControlAs a follow up to their previous discussion on Deleuze, Barry and Mike look at William Burroughs' 1975 essay, "the Limits of Control" and discuss how his arguments hold up, nearly 50 years later in a (much more) digital world.
2022-09-0238 minCritical Media StudiesDeleuze - Postcript on the Limits of ControlBarry and Mike discuss Deleuze's "Postscript on the Society of Control" to investigate all of the ways that he argues societies have been kept in line. As Deleuze argues that we currently inhabit two separate but related control rubrics simultaneously, there is a bit to tease out. The guys trace the history of social control according to Foucalt and Deleuze with the aim of understanding what our technologically enabled freedoms actually cost and why the freedom to do what we'd like might not be much...
2022-08-191h 02Critical Media StudiesTechno-Fatalism and the Moral Alternatives (?)In this episode Barry and Mike discuss the idea of Techno-Fatalism as it pertains to Robert Christgau's response to the Ted Gioia article from The Atlantic where Gioia posited that the streaming of old music was killing new music. As both Barry and Mike are lovers of music (though not all of it "good"), this one has a bit of a personal feel to it. As such, there are new terms coined, ideas for t-shirts, and maybe* a bit of optimism. This was a fun episode. We think you'll enjoy it.
2022-08-0549 minCritical Media StudiesBaudrillard - The Implosion of the Social in the MediaIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss Baudrillard's 1985 essay "The Implosion of the Social in the Media", in which he offers a very thought-provoking thesis. Baudrillard asks what if, rather than enslaving and manipulating the masses, the media actually empowers, or emancipates them? What if all of the freedom and choice and desire that we fear might be manipulated or taken from us were the problems in the first place? These, and other "What If's", are the subject of this episode. We hope you enjoy!
2022-07-2244 minCritical Media StudiesOn Advertising - Barthes in the Modern Media EcologyIn this episode Barry and Mike look at Roland Barthes' 1964 Essay "Rhetoric of the Image" and discuss his theories of advertising against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. Spread across multiple foci, the discussion touches on the ways that images, despite their obvious curation, create manufactured senses of what is natural or authentic and are then used to send and sustain powerful rhetorical appeals.
2022-07-0840 minCritical Media StudiesMarshall McLuhan's Culture is Our Business: A Discussion of Media EnvironmentsIn this episode Barry and Mike take on a follow up to Marshall McLuhan's famous 1967 book, The Medium is the Massage. Here, they dig into what exactly a media environment looks like and how this environment impacts the lives we live. If you liked (or hated) the first take on McLuhan, you'll love (or really hate) this conversation!
2022-06-2435 minCritical Media StudiesThe Top 10 Albums of All Time! Why it doesn’t matter.In this episode Barry and Mike take a look at the top 10 albums of all time according to Wikipedia. As with virtually all Top 10 lists, they take issue with what the numbers seem to say, noting some curious omissions and inclusions. However, rather than trying to rewrite history, they take a shot at explaining how and why the list looks the way that it does.
2022-06-1038 minCritical Media StudiesHeidegger - The Question Concerning Technology: The Digital AgeIn this episode Barry and Mike take a different approach to Heidegger's The Question Concerning Technology. Rather than a traditional "what does all this mean" approach grounded in historical context, they look at the essay with a specific eye towards understanding what Heidegger can teach us about our current digital media culture and the essay's relevance for our interactions in the age of the internet and near total interconnection.
2022-05-2745 minCritical Media StudiesHeidegger -- The Question Concerning Technology: History and ContextBarry and Mike look at Heidegger's "The Question Concerning Technology." They attempt to provide a little context on the work with the aim identifying his core position on technology and an explanation for it. This is not a comprehensive dive into either Heidegger or this particular essay. Rather, it is an attempt to make Heidegger's argument accessible so that it can be brought into conversation with the other thinkers they approach in addressing critical media studies.
2022-05-271h 08Critical Media StudiesOn Fake news and Ross DouthatBarry and Mike talk about a Ross Douthat article from the New York Times as a means of engaging with fake news.
2022-05-1331 minCritical Media StudiesOn Online EducationIn this episode Barry and Mike discuss online education as a pharmakon. They argue that while the upsides to this model of learning are clear, there is a problem in understanding the costs. This discussion hearkens back to many of the ideas discussed in earlier episodes regarding the manner in which technologies shape our perspectives and the nature of our engagements with them.
2022-04-2934 minCritical Media StudiesWhat have we learned about Zoom?Barry and Mike return to their roots in the classroom and discuss Zoom through a pedagogical and critical media studies lens. Topics include how Zoom is a pharmakon, the importance of physicality, and the role of distraction.
2022-04-1544 minCritical Media StudiesDon't Look UpBarry and Mike discuss the recent Adam McKay film Don't Look Up. They argue that the film plot and characters are a representation of Bernard Steigler's conceptions of algorithmic governmentally and functional stupidity. These concepts were covered in two earlier episodes that you can go back and listen to, but they to a recap for listeners who may not be familiar. By the time the discussion ends they discuss the impact of a mediated existence on individual development, how a fully aware algorithm can predict you mood but miss armageddon, and why the idea of armageddon isn't too much...
2022-04-0148 minCritical Media StudiesJaques Ellul and Bob Lefsetz - Technique in the Age of Digital StreamingBarry and Mike discuss a recent blog post by the music industry critic Bob Lefsetz regarding the failures of streaming platforms to release content en masse, forcing us to consume in bite size chunks rather than satisfying our urge to binge. We consider the implications of this release method viewed through Ellul's lens.
2022-03-1835 minCritical Media StudiesE.M. Forster - The Machine StopsBarry and Mike discuss the E.M. Forester short story "The Machine Stops" and marvel at how timely it is, over 100 years after it was written. Using the story as a contextual springboard, they discuss the nature of our reliance on technology and the convenience it offers and wonder: is it worth the price? What is the price in the first place?
2022-03-0437 minCritical Media StudiesMarshall McLuhan and SpotifyWhat does Marshall Mcluhan's mean by the medium is the message? What does that look like when we hold it up to something like Spotify, and what does that mean in terms of how we consume and then process media? Barry and Mike discuss how the move to consuming music via streaming platforms such as Spotify changes the experience from the traditional (old) way of listening with physical artifacts like records, tapes, and cd's.
2022-02-1845 minCritical Media StudiesRaymond Williams - Culture, the Mass, the Mob, and EducationBarry and Mike discuss sections of Raymond Williams' Culture and Society with an emphasis on how his concept of culture works in our time. We talk about what makes a mass a mob, the role of technology and communication in fostering conceptions of masses and mobs, and how education sits at the center of all of it.
2022-02-041h 05Critical Media StudiesResponse to Ted Gioia - Is Old Music Killing New Music?This episode comes on what is usually a week off because, well, we got pretty fired up about Gioia's article!Barry and Mike agree (and disagree) about what's happening with the music industry right now. You can Find Ted's article here.
2022-01-2836 minCritical Media StudiesBernard Steigler and The Automatic Society, pt. 2Barry and Mike continue with their conversation of Bernard Steigler's Automatic Society in the second of a two part discussion.
2022-01-211h 02Critical Media StudiesBernard Steigler and the Automatic Society, pt. 1Barry and Mike begin a two part discussion on Bernard Steigler and his book, The Automatic Society.
2022-01-0750 minCritical Media StudiesWelcome to the Critical Media Studies Podcast!Barry and Mike introduce themselves and the show. We talk about who we are, where and how we come to Critical Media Studies, and what the show is about.
2022-01-0712 min