What gives the mass media, particularly advertising and television,
their extraordinary power over our lives, so that even the most
jaded and sophisticated among us are troubled and fascinated by
their allure? The secret, according to Richard Stivers, in this
brilliant new book, lies in the curious relationship between
technology and magic. Stivers argues the two are now related to one
another in such a way that each has taken on important
characteristics of the other. His contention is that our
expectations for technology have become magical to the point that
they have generated a multitude of imitation technologies that
function as magical practices. These imitation technologies
flourish in the fields of psychology, management administration,
and the mass media, and their paramount purpose in human adjustment
and control. Advertising and television programs, in particular,
contain the key magical rituals of our civilization.In a
fascinating analysis of television programming, Stivers shows how
various genres--news, sports, game shows, soap operas, sitcoms,
etc.--have their distinct mythological symbols. Through dramatized
information, they symbolically connect consumer goods and services
to desired outcomes--the utopian goals of success, happiness, and
health--thus enveloping technology, both real and imitation, in a
magical cocoon.
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