The body and the screen : theories of Internet spectatorship PDF
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Michele White is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Tulane University. the body and the screen new media/cultural studies w THEORIES OF INTERNET SPECTATORSHIP “The literature on new media is abundant, but few humanities scholars have directly interrogated the h specific kinds of practices and aesthetics that the Internet makes possible. The Body and the michele white i Screendoes precisely this. White’s sustained focus on technological mediation, informed by femi- t e nist and queer-theory approaches, makes a significant and needed contribution to the literature.” Internet and computer users are often represented onscreen —Ken Hillis,Associate Professor of Media Studies, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill t as active and empowered—as in AOL’s striding yellow figure h and the interface hand that appears to manipulate software and “The Body and the Screenis a highly nuanced critical examination of the junction of the virtual and e hypertext links. In The Body and the Screen Michele White the real. By engaging cyberspace and the body together (and by not participating in the game of b suggests that users can more properly be understood as spec- their free disassociation, as many media theorists do), White offers important arguments for the tators rendered and regulated by technologies and representa- o materiality of the experience of new media. This much-needed book marks an important step for- tions, for whom looking and the mediation of the screen are d ward in critical studies of new media and the Internet.” significant aspects of engagement. Drawing on apparatus and —Steve Jones,Department of Communication, University of Illinois at Chicago y feminist psychoanalytic film theories, art history, gender studies, a queer theory, critical race and postcolonial studies, and other n theories of cultural production, White conceptualizes Internet d and computer spectatorship and provides theoretical models t that can be employed in other analyses. She offers case studies h and close visual and textual analysis of the construction of spec- e tatorship in different settings. s White shows that despite the onscreen promise of c the body and the screen empowerment and coherence (through depictions of materiality r that structure the experience), fragmentation and confusion e are constant aspects of Internet spectatorship. She analyzes e spectatorship in multi-user object-oriented settings (MOOs) THEORIES OF INTERNET SPECTATORSHIP The MIT Press n by examining the textual process of looking and gazing, con- Massachusetts Institute of Technology trasts the experiences of women’s webcam spectator and oper- Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 ator, describes intentional technological failures in net art, and http://mitpress.mit.edu considers ways in which traditional conceptions of artistry, authorship, and production techniques persist in Internet and 0-262-23249-9 computer settings (as seen in the creation of virtual environment 978-0-262-23249-4 avatars and in digital imaging art). Finally, she analyzes the phys- ical and psychic pain described by male programmers in Internet forums as another counternarrative to the common tale The cover art includes two digital photographic details from Ken of the empowered user. Spectatorship, White argues, not only Gonzales-Day, Untitled #94,1999. michele white affects the way specific interfaces are understood but also helps shape larger conceptions of self and society. The Body and the Screen The Body and the Screen Theories of Internet Spectatorship Michele White The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England ©2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotion- al use. For information, please email [email protected] or write to Special Sales Department, The MIT Press, 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. This book was set in Stone Sans and Stone Serif by The MIT Press. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data White, Michele. The body and the screen : theories of Internet spectatorship / Michele White. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-262-23249-9 (alk. paper) 1. Internet—Philosophy. 2. Cyberfeminism. 3. Art and technology. 4. Human-computer inter- action. I. Title. TK5105.875.I57W5275 2006 004.67'8—dc22 2006042005 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents List of Illustrations ix The Body, the Screen, and Representations: An Introduction to Theories of Internet Spectatorship 1 1 Making Internet and Computer Spectators 17 Introduction Rendering Liveness, Materiality, and Space Notions of the Empowered User Addressing the Spectator Stabilizing Identity Erasing the Interface Conclusion: Active Users by Design 2 Visual Pleasure through Textual Passages: Gazing in Multi-user Object-oriented Settings (MOOs) 35 Introduction MOOs The Look and the Gaze Character Creation and Attributes in MOOs The Look and the Gaze in MOOs Gendered Gazing in MOOs Graphical MOOs Conclusion: Between Multiple and Coherent Identity 3 Too Close to See, Too Intimate a Screen: Men, Women, and Webcams 57 Introduction Feminism and Spectatorship Critical and Journalistic Considerations of Webcams Webcams vi Contents Women and Webcams Regulating the Spectator Women Webcam Operators and Authority Visibility and Webcams Making Texts Real Some Problems with Webcam Viewing Just a Guy Conclusion: The Politics of Being Seen 4 The Aesthetic of Failure: Confusing Spectators with Net Art Gone Wrong 85 Introduction Aesthetics and Net Art Net Art An Aesthetic of Failure Jodi Peter Luining Michaël Samyn Conclusion: The Limits of Failure and Repetition 5 Can You Read Me? Setting-specific Meaning in Virtual Places (VP) 115 Introduction Virtual Places Avatars Painters and Avatar Galleries Owning Texts Criteria for Originality Theories of Internet Authorship Gender, Race, Sexuality, and the Avatar Making Differences in Virtual Places Conclusion: Authorship in Other Internet Settings 6 This Is Not Photography, This Is Not a Cohesive View: Computer-facilitated Imaging and Fragmented Spectatorship 147 Introduction Making the Digital Imaging Spectator Photography Digital or Post-photography The Scanner as Camera Carol Selter’s Animalia and Punctum Susan Silton’s Self Portraits and Images of the Partial Self Ken Gonzales-Day’s Skin Series and the Cut The New Media Grid Conclusion: The Morphed Spectator Contents vii Afterword The Flat and the Fold: A Consideration of Embodied Spectatorship 177 Introduction Carol Selter, Susan Silton, Ken Gonzales-Day, and the Fold The Body Folded and Evacuated Hierarchy and Control The Spectator in Pain The Fat and the Fold Men and the Weight Loss “Challenge” Erotic Folding Conclusion: A Technology of Waste Acknowledgments 199 Notes 205 Selected Bibliography 273 Index 297 Illustrations Figures I.1 American Association for the Advancement of Science, “Ethical and Legal Aspects of Human Subjects in Cyberspace,” 1999, 15 Sept. 2004, <http://www .aaas.org/spp/dspp/sfrl/projects/intres/main.htm>. 2 I.2 Logitech, “Logitech—Leading Web Camera, Wireless Keyboard,” 15 Aug. 2004, <http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm?countryid=19&languageid=1>. 3 I.3 Microsoft, “Microsoft Corporation,” 14 Aug. 2004, <http://www.microsoft .com/>. 5 1.1 Garnet Hertz, “Desktop_10jpg. 832x264 Pixels,” 21 Nov. 2003, <http://www.con ceptlab.com/desktop/img/desktop_10.jpg>. 18 1.2 Jack Desrocher, “Salon|21st: Be There Now,” Salon, 7 Aug. 1997, 27 Sept. 2004, <http://www.salon.com/aug97/21st/cam970807.html>. 31 1.3 Apple, “Apple,” 23 Mar. 2002, <http://www.apple.com>. 33 1.4 Computer Bargains, “Flat Screen,” 16 Jan. 2003, <http://www.computer bargains.net/h530.htm>. 34 3.1 Jennifer Ringley, “JenniCam: Life, Online,” 21 Nov. 2003, <http://www.jenni cam.com/>. 66 3.2 Aimee, “A Cam Girl Dot Com, a Free Live Web Cam Site,” 21 Nov. 2003, <http://www.acamgirl.com/>. 75 3.3 Hippyflip, “Looky Here,” 20 Dec. 2000, <http://www.hippyflip.com/hippyflip/ campage.html>. 76 3.4 CamGirls Ring, 21 Nov. 2003, <http://www.camgirlsring.com>. 79 4.1 Jodi, %20Wrong, 27 Sept. 2004, <http://404.jodi.org/>. 98 4.2 Jodi, %20Wrong, Rhizome, 1 Jan. 1996, 27 Sept. 2004, <http://rhizome.org/ artbase/1678/wrong.html>. 100
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