Supersaturation or The Media Torrent and Disposable Feeling

Comprehension 1. The writer Todd Gitlin uses three different terms in the title of his essay “Supersaturation, or, The Media Torrent and Disposable Feeling. ” By using these three embossing terms in the title of his essay the writer fascinates his readers in a brilliant manner. The Dictionary meaning of the term supersaturation is to increase the concentration on something beyond its saturation point.

In his essay the concept of supersaturation is implied by the writer to show his readers, that how the media’s increased concentration has affected our society in different ways. The writer also reflects the concept of supersaturation in today’s world by saying “the flow of images and sounds through the household of rich world, and the richer parts of the poor world, seems unremarkable today (Gitlin 547). ” The concept of disposable feeling is addressed by the writer in many different ways in the essay.

The writer tells us about the difference between our current life and the life back in seventeenth century. The writer mainly highlights the concept of disposable feeling about the media torrent by saying “we may ignore them most of the time, take issue with them or shrug them off, but we must do the work of dispelling them-and even then, we know we can usher them into our presence whenever we like(Gitlin 547). ”

Rhetoric

1. In this essay the writer Todd Gitlin argues comparing two different eras of our society. The writer compares the seventeenth century to this modern era in an effort to show his readers the domination of media torrent currently existing in our society. Gitlin’s claim is clearly stated in the first paragraph of the essay. The writer states his claim clearly by saying “these pictures were pleasing, but more: They were proofs of taste and prosperity, amusement and news at once (Gitlin 547). ” We can say that the writer relies on his own opinions throughout the essay because while reading the essay the writer makes some terrific points about the concept of supersaturation.
2. The writer appeals to logic, ethics, and emotions are made at many different instances throughout the essay. A very remarkable appeal Gitlin makes to logic, ethics, and emotions with the help of his claim is that, the things which were once slow changing means of entrainment have now became a major necessity in our life. Hence we can say that the writer sustains his own ideas throughout essay.
3. Reading through the essay, I can say that the writer uses anecdotal evidences in his essay. In order to build a strong argument the writer has used variant evidences. At the very beginning of the essay the writer gives a strong evidence to bolster his argument by comparing the media torrent in current society to the seventeenth century.
4. The writer says that “in seventeenth-century delft, painters did not knock on the door day and night offering fresh images for sale (Gitlin 547),” which we do not often see in today’s world. The writer also gives another nice example by saying “according to measurements of A. C.
5. Nielsen and company the standard used by advertisers and the television business itself, the average individual watched television about four hours a day, not counting the time when the set was on but individual in question was not watching (Gitlin 547). ” With the help of the following examples we can say that the writer mostly uses anecdotal evidences in the essay.
6. In the conclusion of the essay “Supersaturation, or, The Media Torrent and Disposable Feeling” Todd Gitlin has used a very direct style of conclusion to explain his readers that media torrent has stunned the contemporary world.

Gitlin talks about how media was in seventeenth century and how different it is now in the twentieth century. The writer explains how media has affected our day to day life by stating in his essay that, “more money we have to spend, the more personal space each house hold member gets. With more personal space comes solitude, but solitude is instantly crowed with images and soundtracks (Gitlin 547). ” According to me, the writer has used his conclusion in a very straight forward manner.