Common Failure
"Both represent a common failure: the attempt to do a job demanded by the new environment with the tools of the old."
The Theater of the Absurd, McLuhan suggests, with its themes of "the destructive nature of time, the feeling of solitude in a hostile world, the sense of isolation from other human beings" is an expression of fear of the new media environment of electronic technology in much the same way that the Dance of Death was an expression of fear of the new media environment of print.
The fear and anxiety they represent is rooted in the disjunction we experience as we attempt to engage with and exist within the new media environment as if it were the old media environment with with we are familiar. This disconnect leads to frustration, incomprehension, and a sense of helplessness.
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Death and the Printing Press, The Medium Is the Massage, pp. 94-95, New Media, Theater of the Absurd, Dance of Death, Clash of Technologies, The Pope, from the Dance of Death, Bridal Pair, from the Dance of Death, Danse macabre by Michael Wolgemut, Death's Coat of Arms, from the Dance of Death, Kennedy on Telstar. Europe /sees News Conference, 1962/07/23, Knight, from the Dance of Death, Nun, from the Dance of Death, Old Man, from the Dance of Death, Pedlar, from the Dance of Death View all tags
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