Linked Media: Hypermediacy, Immediacy, and Remediation

The very fact that the "new media" of video games, social networking sites, and movies simultaneously achieve both immediacy and hypermediacy, and that this can be assessed in terms of their remediations of other media, shows that there really is no "new media" at all.  Using Bolter and Grusin's Remediation, we first analyzed the online video game, ATV Pizza Delivery from Freeaddictinggames.com.  

http://www.freeaddictinggames.com/game/atv-pizza-delivery/

In its remediations of older home-console video games, and even further removed, arcade games, it aims for a degree of authenticity through immediacy: the car follows the basic physics of driving by spinning out or stalling out upon collision with other vehicles, and there is an immediacy in the response of the car to our manipulation of the keys that attempts to replicate the experience of manipulating the controls of a vehicle.  However, hypermediacy dominates, as is typical of most internet-based media.  There are advertisements popping up around the game's window, and there is not only the option to stop the game, skip games, and replay the game, but also to open up a whole new window and explore other media without completely leaving the game.  Further, what seems like a poor attempt at immediacy--getting the car to do what we wanted by pressing the keys--actually functions as hypermediacy in its calling attention to the game's frustrating limitations.  But, circling back, the limitations of this "contact point" (30) between us and the "car" provide a double sense of immediacy by replicating the experience of driving a car at high speeds (since they are difficult to control), and further, by manufacturing an authentic and immediate experience of frustration that corresponds to what is commonly felt while driving in traffic. 

Next, we looked at Sasha Ordowskij's profile page on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/sasha.ordowskij

This, too, screams of hypermediacy, and only through this hypermediated experience do we achieve any semblance of immediacy.  The immediacy of photography is called upon and remediated into digital photography that is then incorporated into a hyper-(re)mediated collage of information including other pictures, videos, text comments, and links to a remediated resume and a remediated biography.  This experience of Sasha, however, is not diminished by hypermediacy; rather, the saturating barrage of information purportedly selected by her provides an immediate sense of “knowing” her that surpasses the degree of knowledge one would gain just by meeting her face-to-face.  Once again, remediation replicates authentic experience in the interplay between hypermediacy and immediacy.

Finally, we watched a scene from Leon, the Professional:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQZlHnwqhgM&t=1m48s

This appears to be more immediate than the video game and Facebook page in its timely and realistic dialogue, its grittiness, the design and furnishing of the living space, and the expected interactions and reactions of the characters.  This immediacy is achieved through the filmic remediation of photographic technology with each shift in camera angle and the editing and cutting of scenes facilitating the progression of story and time.  Hypermediacy is also used in the service of immediacy in the process of remediation.  For instance, the hypermediacy of products available at a typical grocery store is remediated into Mathilda’s immediate experience of shopping which rings true for viewers who expect shopping to be like that.

These three “new media” certainly offer avenues toward an authentic experience, but evidently, none of them are actually “new.” As Bolter and Grusin explain, “Media are continually commenting on, reproducing, and replacing each other” (55), and this shows the dependence of what we think of as “new” media upon what is “old” as well as how “old” media can remediate what is “new.” This, in turn, highlights the interdependence of the concepts of immediacy, hypermediacy, and remediation.  They are defined by each other, just as newer media is defined by its relation to older media.  Each medium attempts to create an authentic experience by appealing to its audience’s desire for relation and connection; that two seemingly opposing strategies must be used in tandem reveals how complex modern rhetoric must be in reaching a diverse audience.
 

Bolter, David J. and Richard Grusin.  Remediation: Understanding New Media.  Cambridge:

MIT, 2000.  Print.