Our final blog for this Critical Reading module, is not a reading... but a film. A film about a young individualistic architect; Howard Roark, who the author, Ayn Rand is believed to have created based on Frank Lloyd Wright. Roark embodies the ideology of the ideal man and his struggle reflects Rand's belief that individualism is superior to collectivism. The story observes the role of the architect and how they are perceived through media. The novel the film is based on went on to be a bestseller among political libertarians and architects. It has also been translated into 20 languages, so to say it is an international book is an understatement, architects across the globe can now read the story of Ayn Rand. Howard Roark has unique design ideas, not something which was encouraged by his first boss. He wanted Roark to do what he was told architecturally for the people. Eventually, Roark takes over the company and becomes his own architect, he then proposes a tower block to the to...
Marshall McLuhan studies media as a way of understanding why it is that makes us live in the way we do, as a way of understanding society itself. For example, he describes his views on 'printing' as being the act. To print doesn't mean much, but the words which are being printed have a much greater and far more valuable effect and meaning than the printing itself. He discusses the subjective against the objective, the meaning and purpose of the media against the media form itself. He quotes 'reading is a form of 'guessing', as to read you must be able to slightly guess what is coming up, as you don't know what words will follow so you must take a guess at what is upcoming to form the sentence in your head. He was defiantly a thinker! McLuhan states by his own judgment that a good reader is usually a quick decision maker, which stems from his statement about to read is to guess. McLuhan discusses advertising as the folk art of the 20th Century, claiming ad...