Media ecology

The clip above is taken from the film “Manda Bala- Send a Bullet,” a Latin American documentary from filmmaker Jason Kohn. Released in 2007, the film focuses on the harsh realities of class warfare in Brazil, a nation where “the rich steal from the poor, and the poor steal from the rich.” As a harbor for natural resources and undeveloped land, the nation has become a competitor in both the import and export industries; with a centralized market between Europe and the United States, the nation has attracted international commerce. Afflicted cities subsist in the outline of corruption and violence, a poverty-stricken population of millions among the wealthy elite. In Kohn’s documentary, he interviews the undisclosed “Mr. M.” who is a computer specialist in Sao Paolo, a city with the highest kidnapping rate as a result of unbalanced wealth.
Mr. M begins his interview by saying “I have to somehow manage to get home from here. So it’s a risk.” In a society driven by survival alone, shaped by self-gain and monetary value, the people of Sao Paolo are part of the McLuhan’s theory of media ecology. Although Griffin’s text acknowledges that, “there is no easy formula for a cause and effect relationship,” it’s very clear that Sao Paolo’s latest developments in technology are congruent with their symbolic environment.
Mr. M. is one of many in McLuhan’s “global village; “a worldwide electronic community where everyone knows everyone’s business and all are somewhat testy.”
Industrialization and the prosperous electronic technology of the twentieth century has ushered in a new way of living for the wealthy and poor. Mr. M. as well as many others see no end to the advancements of an electronic era. Bullet proof cars, courses in survival, the cosmetic reconstruction of an earlobe severed during a kidnapping- these are all technologies that have embedded the corruption and increased the inequalities within Sao Paolo. The newest communication device created for wealthy is a subcutaneous implant- a personal location device that is injected under the skin. McLuhan’s theory states that social environments are created from the use of different communication technologies. Although no environment is the same, technology has impacted the construction of society on a global scale. In Sao Paolo, kidnapping is a routine; technologies such as the subcutaneous implant will continue to enhance the individual’s value of survival in a society plagued by class warfare and corruption.