Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan is referred to as "the greatest media theorist of the 20th century", "information age guru", "seeker of the electronic age", "media ecologist", and "father of cyberspace".
Considering that he foretold the emergence of the internet and even Facebook in the works he wrote in the 1960s, it can be said that these ascriptions are accurate.
Herbert Marshall McLuhan was born on June 21, 1911, in Canada. McLuhan, whose father is an insurance salesman and mother an actress, grows up under the influence of his mother Elsie Naomi's interest in the art of oratory. Marshall McLuhan, who has a great interest in poetry, learned many poems by heart before entering university. This love of poetry is also reflected in his works and works. McLuhan frequently resorts to wordplay in his books and works, influenced by poetry. In 1928, he started to study engineering at the University of Manitoba, completing a master's degree in English and philosophy at the same university. After graduating from this school, he started his doctorate in literature at Cambridge University in 1935.
Herbert Marshall McLuhan (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his teaching career as a professor of English at several universities in the United States and Canada before moving to the University of Toronto in 1946, where he remained for the rest of his life.
While studying at Cambridge University, he changed his denomination from Protestantism to the Catholic sect. All his life he became a devoted member of the Catholic church and a devout person. After completing his doctorate at Cambridge University in 1944, he worked at various universities in the United States. He transferred to the University of Toronto in 1946. Except for one year at Fordham University in New York City, Marshall McLuhan remained at the University of Toronto throughout his academic career.
In the 1950s, he met anthropologist Edmund Carpenter at the University of Toronto, and the two scientists later began publishing a short-lived newspaper called "Explorations." During this period, McLuhan conducts research on interdisciplinary sciences. McLuhan's research on communication for Explorations becomes data for all his other work.
McLuhan's most important first work, The Mechanical Bride: The Industrial Man's Factor, was published in 1951. In this book, he criticizes modern popular culture with text and images taken from media products and advertisements. In his book, he discusses that in a society oriented towards visual consumption, women are not homogenized, divided, and specialized like men. By 1929, according to Marshall McLuhan, women were homogenized through cinemas and photo advertisements. However, the printing press alone did not have such a strong effect on women that they were reduced to uniformity, repeatability, and specialization.
In 1955, he founded a consulting company called Idea Consultants with his wife Corinne McLuhan, and three friends named William Hagon, Corinne Hagon, and Murray Paulin. The goal of this company is to market new ideas to the communication sector, especially to advertising companies. However, the company shuts down in two years without any success.
In the mid-1960s, the newspaper Explorations put an end to its publication life. McLuhan opens the Center for Culture and Technology in 1963, which will become a stronghold for all his work. McLuhan focuses his studies on electronic technology in this center established within the University of Toronto.
Marshall McLuhan's second most important work is The Gutenberg Galaxy, published in 1962. In this book, which will shed light on his new works, he examines the effects of printed work on human communication and perception. In his book, he argues that the phonetic alphabet and typography were the first forces to shape Western culture and values. McLuhan was awarded the Govemor General Award for his book The Gutenberg Galaxy.
He married teacher and actress candidate Corinne Lewis, whom he met through his mother, in 1939, and they had 6 children.
In 1964, McLuhan published his acclaimed Understanding the Media: Human Extensions. Communication experts say this book is McLuhan's ticket to fame. In the first part of the book, which is divided into two parts, McLuhan focuses on his general theoretical studies; The second part of his book includes research on media. According to McLuhan, the media has a broad meaning. For him, watches, clothes, weapons, and games were also media. In his book, McLuhan examines the transformations that occur as a result of the introduction of new media into any society.
He suddenly became famous with his book The Medium is the Message, published in 1967. In this book, McLuhan blends his main ideas using a photographic metaphor. McLuhan explains in his book that technological tools, media are an extension of our bodies or minds. Clothing is an extension of the skin, residences are an extension of the body's heat control mechanism. A bicycle, car, etc. is an extension of the foot. Computers are an extension of the central nervous system.
According to McLuhan, communication tools (media) work in pairs. One tool is proof of the existence of another. Telegram includes printed text, the printed text includes writing, and writing includes speech. In this context, the vehicle covered is the message of the vehicle containing it. The content or information is less important than the tool itself. This idea forms the basis of the Tool is the Message. But McLuhan gives two examples of exceptions to the binary order of the means of communication. Speech is the content of the writing. Speech includes thought. But the chain of media ends here because thought is non-verbal and abstract.
In 1967, NBC television increased Marshall McLuhan's fame with an hour-long broadcast. According to communication experts, McLuhan becomes the prince of popular culture. McLuhan's fame spreads so much that; Even Playboy Magazine puts this on its pages by interviewing him. He even performs once in the television comedy series Laugh-In and increases his reputation by starring in Woody Allen's "Annie Hall".
In War and Peace in the Global Village, co-written with Quentin Fiore and Jerome Agel in 1968, McLuhan discusses the relations between media and violence. The core of the book is the discussion that today's tech users are caught between two very different ways of understanding the world.
Marshall McLuhan's thinking was greatly influenced by his teacher, Canadian economist, and communications historian Harold Innis. Although McLuhan was greatly influenced by the thoughts of Harold Innis, with whom he worked on the same faculty at the University of Toronto, McLuhan, and Innis met very little face-to-face.
After significant brain surgery in 1969, McLuhan travels to all corners of America, running from one conference to the next. This intense work pace negatively affects McLuhan's health, and in a short time, McLuhan is faced with new health problems due to the blockage in the main vessels that send fresh blood to the brain. Despite this situation, in 1972 McLuhan appeared and spoke to people either through television or through conferences. McLuhan, who started working again as soon as he got out of the hospital, wrote his last book City as Classroom, which was published while he was alive, with Kathryn Hutchon and her son Eric McLuhan. McLuhan, who started to work on the differences between the left and right hemispheres of the brain in his last years, suffered a stroke in September 1979; He loses much of his ability to speak. McLuhan died on December 31, 1980, after an illness of about fourteen months.
After McLuhan's death, many books were published about the author. The most important are; “McLuhan: The Medium and The Messenger” published by Philip Marchand and Neil Postman in 1989 and “McLuhan: Escape into Understanding” published by Gordon Terrence in 1979. These biographies shed light on McLuhan's work and life. In the works of the author, we find both the technological side of engineering education, the poetic creativity of art and literature that adds color to the narrative, and the effects of the totalism of the Catholic religion.