Our Natural Selves
I found McLuhans idea of the railway and how it altered the outlooks and patterns of social Interdependence really interesting. I focused heavily on the idea of the "man's desire to withdraw from society, symbolized by the city, to a rural setting where he could recover his animal self". To portray that theme, I recorded the outdoors. Along side my clips of the bodies of water and the surrounding trees, I also recorded the railway. I felt like there was an irony behind it all because when McLuhan said, "the technology of the railway created the myth of a green pasture world of innocence ", I immediately thought of Appleton. Behind Lawrence, there are beautiful trails that give the people of Appleton a place to feel like they can be their "natural self". With that being said, they also have the ability to be surrounded by abandoned train tracks and river locks that are no more in use, but at a time were once used for societal growth. I also wanted to p...