The Authentic Voice of Society: The Vlog or the Blog?

What is the appeal of a vlog (video weblog) rather than the traditional blog (weblog)? As a communicatory medium there is no doubt that the vlog offers a degree of immediacy that is lacking in the text blog. But, is it more authentic?

Again, this blogger finds interesting parallels in history. Central to the Reformation debate, for instance, was the issue of the primacy of the written word - over the graphic representations of sacred subjects. From c. 600 A.D., the image was recognized as the principle vehicle for disseminating religious and liturgical information to the illiterate (i.e., society in general). By the 15th century, Bibliae pauperum (or, Bibles of the Poor) proliferated in Europe (Kessler).

Thus, a move away from the iconocentric to the logocentric was espoused. In fact, we can place much of western society's emphasis on education down to this very fact: it was confidently felt that people gained a better and more authentic understanding through recourse with the written word rather than through viewing an image.

The Renaissance humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam broaches this subject in the Introduction to his translation of the New Testament (1518). Given the epoch, his terms of reference are religious, but nevertheless we see how words were winning the battle against images:

[An image] represents only the form of the body — if indeed it represents anything of Him — but these writings bring you the living image of His holy mind and the speaking, healing, dying, rising Christ Himself, and thus they render Him so fully present that you would see less if you gazed upon Him with your very eyes (Erasmus, 108; see also DeCoursey).

This period also saw a widespread reaction against images whipped up by anti-Catholic religious fervour. Iconoclastic acts effectively wiped out centuries' worth of religious art in an attempt to focus churches on the role of the preacher, pulpit and written word. What is now modern-day Holland and Belgium saw the worst iconoclastic devastation in the Beeldenstorm (or wave of iconoclasm) of 1566-7. Notably, these rampages were characterized by a massive upsurge of hostility from the people and directed against the materialism associated with ruling political and religious elites (Crew). In effect, they were the first European revolutionaries (Brandon).

Today, we see similar patterns – but in reverse. While the written word is considered to be superior, it is increasingly the visual message that attracts attention. In the same way as television news has replaced the newspaper, vlogs are overtaking blogs in popularity.


References:
Crew, Phillis Mack. 1978. Calvinist Preaching and Iconoclasm in the Netherlands, 1544–1569. Cambridge: University Press.

DeCoursey, Matthew. N.d. Erasmus and Tyndale on Bible-Reading. http://www.tyndale.org/Reformation/1/decoursey.html

Erasmus. 1987. "Paraclesis," in J.C. Olin, ed. Christian Humanism and the Reformation,New York: Fordham University.

Kessler, Herbert. 2006. Gregory the Great and Image Theory in Northern Europe during the Twelfth and Thirteenth Century, in C. Rudolf (ed.), A Companion to Medieval Art. Blackwell Reference Online. http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781405102865_chunk_g97814051028658#citation

Brandon, Pepijn. 2007. The Dutch Revolt: A Social Analysis. International Socialism. no. 116. Oct. 1, 2007. http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.digischool.nl/kleioscoop/beeldenstorm.jpg&imgrefurl=http://dearkitty.blogsome.com/2007/05/25/low-countries-in-revolt-against-king-of-spain/&h=463&w=600&sz=38&hl=en&start=131&um=1&usg=__ryQeY4n9NOTK3cEz31EBTQQGAjk=&tbnid=utbsKD5vE456HM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Diconoclasm%2Beurope%26start%3D120%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

Images:
"Erasmus at the keyboard using an iMac." Adapted by Stephanie Miller from Hans Holbein the Younger's Portrait of Erasmus (1523; National Gallery, London) : http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/34937/21H-418Fall-2002/NR/rdonlyres/Global/0/0AE311FE-4824-488F-A587-520C34EF24D2/0/chp_erasmus_imac1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/34937/21H-418Fall-2002/OcwWeb/History/21H-418Technologies-of-Word-1450-2000Fall2002/CourseHome/index.htm&h=300&w=398&sz=33&hl=en&start=8&um=1&usg=__WhuGR6bsf2EnuZdihr_d-8yU1zE=&tbnid=rj2-5k4gQ6QcXM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Derasmus%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

Ten Brink. J. 1882. De eerste jaren der Nederlandsche Revolutie (1555-1568). Rotterdam: Elsevier.