MS 149I PO: Topics in Media Theory: Reality TV & Participatory Culture: Apparatuses of Intimacy?

For many theorists, the digital era ushered in the second “industrial revolution” and like the first it dramatically transformed human relationships. Taking up the question of the course title, we will begin by exploring Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben’s definitions of an apparatus. Drawing insight from these theorists we will explore how media—Reality TV, various forms of social media, and participatory culture—transmit or hinder our expressions of love and intimacy or what Agamben has called a “shared sensation of being”. Instructor: M. Shurkus [Media Theory]