| Introduction. To begin, I introduce some of the basic tenets of the media ecology perspective, and provide a brief survey of some of its foundational thinkers. I interrogate how it can be effectively utilised for the purposes of art criticism, particularly in tandem with McLuhan's notion of the 'counter-environment', and in relation to music and musical multi-media in particular. I also give outline to the affect-script theory of Silvan Tomkins, demonstrating how others might use Tomkin's work in the decoding of musical communication.;Identifying him as 'Cosmic Man', I note that the album's protagonist alternates between the roles of the superhero and the anti-hero. In relation to the album's opening song 'Airbag', I explore Technopoly's connection to the 'War on Terror', commercial culture, corporate libertarianism, the global movement for change, and to the social and psychic impacts of the electric age.;I also attend to Postman's proposition that television is inimical to democracy and literacy and that it is thereby abetting a new species of totalitarianism. In relation to the song's seventh track 'Fitter Happier', I describe Technopoly as it relates to 'globalisation'.;Part 2 - 'Ok Computer' as Counter-Environment: the Anti-Hero. Part two explores the songs that feature Cosmic Man as the anti-hero, all of which associate him with invective feelings and violent activity. 'Paranoid Android' connects the phenomenon of information overload to Technopoly, and to its eclipsing of the traditional world-view. The song also portrays our protagonist's intolerance and scapegoating tendencies which I relate to the mimetic theory of Rene Girard.;Part 1 - 'Ok Computer' and its Cultural Context. In part one I explore the 'concept album' and its application to Radiohead's work, along with Ok Computer's relation to the genre of science fiction. I provide background to what Neil Postman (1992) outlines as Technopoly, and begin my illustration of how Ok Computer functions as a counter-environment to the cultural conditions that Postman describes.;In this connection, I investigate the character's contempt, simulated also in 'Exit Music (for a film)', whose allusions to the violence of Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet demonstrate how Cosmic Man provides a poor role model for the next generation, many of whom he would appear to be leading to suicide. Extrapolating the family feud to that within the global village -- as 'Airbag' suggests, I correlate Technopoly with what Dwight D. Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex; with recent U.S. estrangement; and with current planetary instability.;Cosmic Man's antipathy continues to feature in 'Karma Police', a song in relation to which I discuss some of Technopoly's 'invisible technologies' as well as its association with contemporary strains on identity. These latter culminate in 'Climbing up the Walls' with his personal disintegration, which likewise reflects the unravelling of traditional American society.;Part 3 - 'Ok Computer' as Counter-Environment: the Hero. Part three explores the songs that feature Cosmic Man in his heroic mode, beginning with 'Subterranean Homesick Alien', which highlights his estrangement from nature, and the unintended consequences of his technological extensions upon himself, his fellow species, and his habitat.;Additionally, it explores his alienation from other people, from information, from truth, from meaningful life and from the humanity of his traditional past particularly as these relate to paranoia and active citizenship, the role of scientism in Technopoly, and to moral questions.;'Let Down' explores Technopoly's debilitating erosion of meta-narratives, as well as the phenomenon I identify as 'egalitarian let down'. Here I investigate Cosmic Man's scripting of happiness, particularly in relation to how Technopoly manifests itself in what has been identified as 'the medicalisation of unhappiness'.;In 'Electioneering' I investigate Technoply's global economic and political inequality, and -- in association with 'No Surprises' -- I explore some of the varying techniques of members of the global movement, along with the aspects of Technopoly they most actively oppose. I also discuss the latter song in relation to television's 'disappearing of childhood', its 'diminution of adulthood', and their connection to Technopoly's general inflation of cheerfulness.;Finally, I discuss the apocalypticism of 'Lucky' in relation to Radiohead's ongoing promotion of democratic individualism.;Part 4 - Conclusion. While elucidating Technopoly's connection to the technology of money, I illustrate how Ok Computer's final song -- 'The Tourist' -- expresses Cosmic Man's self-critique at the individual and the cultural level.;Probing the connections between literacy and the doctrine of 'non-violence', I evaluate the prospects for a type of 'secondary literacy', along with other potential positive or negative consequences of computer technology.;Lastly, I investigate the issue of technology and morality in relation to what has become known as 'the precautionary principle'. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
