Saturday, January 3, 2009
The Cultural Value of the Book
The book industry is bound by many of the same financial and industrial pressures that constrain other media, but books, more than others, are in a position to transcend those constraints.In Fahrenheit 451 Montag’s boss, Captain Beatty, explains why all books must be burned. ‘Once,” he tells his troubled subordinate, “books appealed to a few people, here, there, everywhere. They could afford to be different. The world was roomy. But then the world got full of eyes and elbows and mouths” (Bradbury,1981). Bradbury’s firemen of the future destroy books precisely because they are different. It is their difference from other mass media that makes books unique in our culture. Although all media serve the following cultural functions to some degrees (for example, people use self-help videos for personal development and popular music is sometimes an agent of social change0, books traditionally have been seen a s powerful cultural force for these reasons:
• Books are agents of social and cultural change
• Books are important cultural repository.
• Books are windows of the past.
• Books are important sources of personal development
• Books are wonderful sources of entertainment, escape and personal reflection.
• The purchase and reading of a book is a much more individual, personal activity than consuming advertiser-supported (television, radio, newspaper, and magazines) or heavily promoted ( popular music and movies) media.
The book industry is bound by many of the same financial and industrial pressures that constrain other media, but books, more than others, are in a position to transcend those constraints.In Fahrenheit 451 Montag’s boss, Captain Beatty, explains why all books must be burned. ‘Once,” he tells his troubled subordinate, “books appealed to a few people, here, there, everywhere. They could afford to be different. The world was roomy. But then the world got full of eyes and elbows and mouths” (Bradbury,1981). Bradbury’s firemen of the future destroy books precisely because they are different. It is their difference from other mass media that makes books unique in our culture. Although all media serve the following cultural functions to some degrees (for example, people use self-help videos for personal development and popular music is sometimes an agent of social change0, books traditionally have been seen a s powerful cultural force for these reasons:
• Books are agents of social and cultural change
• Books are important cultural repository.
• Books are windows of the past.
• Books are important sources of personal development
• Books are wonderful sources of entertainment, escape and personal reflection.
• The purchase and reading of a book is a much more individual, personal activity than consuming advertiser-supported (television, radio, newspaper, and magazines) or heavily promoted ( popular music and movies) media.
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