Remediation Theory

Even today, remediation is a continually evolving process. It represents the ability of media forms to borrow, transform, absorb, replace, and adapt to other media forms. Because media is continuously interacting with other media, it stands to reason that no media form would be stable in nature, and that media is a continually developing organism. Theory of Remediation aims to give additional standards for generating and comprehending convergent media products. Bolter and Grusin (2002) define remediation theory as the belief that new visual media acquire cultural relevance best by integrating and refashioning older established media forms. This theory is about the mixing of old and new media, and it was one of the first to explain why embracing new media structure isn’t always the greatest option as a media practitioner. Traditional media may refashion new media in the same way that new media may refashion older forms. Rather of dramatically altering the existing media environment, media convergence just modifies old forms. Animated films correct computer graphics by implying that conventional film may exist and thrive by incorporating digital visual technologies. Full-length animated films, particularly those produced by Disney in the last decade [1990s], are prime instances of ‘retrograde’ remediation, in which a contemporary medium is mimicked and even absorbed by an older one. As one might expect from a book on remediation, these cultural examples include a little bit of everything: sci-fi movies that explore the concept of overcoming mediation through fictitious technology, television shows that provide the feeling of immediacy through point-of-view cameras (Cops), and webcam sites that can transmit real-time video images to viewers at home (Sulphur Mountain). According to remediation theory, media may be classified into two major styles: hypermediacy and transparent immediacy.  

Hypermediacy values fragmentation, indeterminacy, and heterogeneity, stressing process and performance above the completed output, similar to a windowed style of World Wide Web sites (Bolter & Grusin, 2002). It provides random access, with no actual beginning, middle, or finish, and serves as information snippets rather than a story. Medieval books of hours, which feature exquisite pictures that engage readers’ attention to the materiality of the book itself, are an older form of hypermediacy. In the media rivalry between old and new media, Bolter and Grusin present two primary strategies. McSweeney’s Issue 16 is an example of hypermediacy, which is defined as a “form of visual representation whose objective is to remind the audience of the medium.” 

Interactivity is not required for transparent immediacy. Bolter and Grusin (2002) define it as two- and three-dimensional pictures projected onto typical computer, cinema, or television screens. Because it is produced with a clear fourth wall, audiences of transparent immediacy have an instantaneous interaction with the substance of what they are witnessing. The content is more linear in form, having a completed narrative framework that includes a beginning, middle, and end (Bolter & Grusin, 2002). Transparent immediacy invites viewers to look through the gadget to observe material. The purpose of transparent immediacy is to make the reader or viewer forget the medium and believe that what they are experiencing is immediate and direct. 3D movies and fantasy novels are examples of transparent immediacy because they urge us to suspend our disbelief and immerse ourselves in a fictional universe, letting us forget about the outer world and the fact that we are holding a book in our hands. Transparent immediacy, in the words of Bolter and Grusin, is a ‘style of visual representation whose purpose is to make the observer forget the existence of the medium (canvas, photographic film, cinema, and so on) and assume that he is in the presence of the objects of representation. 

References: 

• https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/reading-digital/0/steps/16851 
• https://valfx.net/remediation-understanding-new-media/ 
• http://dcac.du.ac.in/documents/E-Resource/2020/Metrial/410NehaJingala1.pdf 
• Strategic Social Media: From Marketing to Social Change, First Edition. L. Meghan Mahoney and Tang Tang. John Wiley & Sons, 2017