Mediating the elemental
An immaterialist ethics for ecomaterialist media theory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21783274 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ludo De Roo (0000-0002-3439-949X, Macquarie University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 602-628 |
| Publication date | 2024-04-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Review of Film and Television Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1740-0309 • E-ISSN: 1740-7923 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17400309.2024.2342212 |
| OpenAlex | W4396557015 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 44 |
Up until the 19th century, the notion ‘medium’ described the natural elements – e.g. earth, water, fire, and air. John Durham Peters’ media philosophy (2015) demonstrates how contemporary technical media rely on this forgotten elemental dimension; as cultural techniques, media can reveal the elemental’s environmental sense. Against its broader philosophical background, I extend Peters’ account into a ‘trans-materialist’ film-philosophy: I claim that the notion of the elemental stands, and mediates, ‘between’ the materialist tradition – currently operative in ecomaterial media theory (e.g. Cubitt; Ivakhiv; Parikka; Parks; Starosielski; Vaughan) – as well as the ethico-existential, immaterial dimension that belongs to the elemental. Two philosophical readings support this mediating aspect of the trans-material philosophy: Levinas’ immaterialist ethics ([1961] 1969) and Bachelard’s ‘material imagination’. Levinas’ ethics underscore that existence is defined in relation to alterity; the enveloping elemental environment enables developing a relational sense of self. Additionally, Bachelard’s materialism invites us to reimagine our cosmic connection to the material world – and I argue it is the medium of film that expresses this potential most dynamically. As moving audiovisual image, cinema’s technical form fosters, for the immersed spectator, a renewed sense for our elemental environment
Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Existentialism · Literature · Materialism · Movie theater · Sense of place · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Cybernetics and Technology in Society · Digital Media and Philosophy · Philosophy · Visual Culture and Art Theory
A Geology of Media
Existence and Existents
"Stuff You Can Kick"
An Ambiguous World of Film
How green is your smartphone
Inhospitable World
Fiery Cinema
Moving Environments
Framing the World
Sorting Things Out
Field Mapping
Bulls In The (Indo) China Shop
Elemental Imagination and Film Experience
Film and the Natural Environment
The Marvelous Clouds
Media zoology and waste management
Understanding media
Poetry, language, thought
Decolonizing Ecomedia
Practicing, materialising and contesting environmental data
Genesis of the Media Concept
The Oriental Obscene
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |