WWU's Webb to present lecture today on Life Magazine's portrayal of technology in the '30s and '40s
Sheila Webb, assistant professor of Journalism at Western Washington University, will present “Prowess Unlimited: The Portrayal of Science & Technology in Life Magazine in the 1930s and 1940s” at WWU’s Turning Points Faculty Lecture series at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 19, in Communications Facility 110.
This is the second Turning Points lecture of the season, and is free and open to the public.
The press is critical to our knowledge and control of scientific and technological developments; an understanding of how narratives of science and technology have been constructed in the press, and of the values ascribed to both practice and practitioners, aids that knowledge and control. The photo-essays in the early years of the magazine afford an examination of the role of a new medium to create stories that visualized the hopes and priorities of the time, a period when the United States became an international power, a power crucially enhanced by scientific and technological prowess. It is also the period in which public enthusiasm for technology reached a high point.
The first pictorial journal in the United States, Life was an immediate success. The response to the premiere issue signaled the eager acceptance of this new form of mass communication: within a month of the launch in November 1936, circulation passed 1 million. Life was ideally suited to conveying the exciting discoveries of the time: its oversized format, which combined striking photos with explanatory captions, allowed for large photos, drawings, and diagrams explaining developments in detail. Compared to other magazines, Life’s coverage of science and technology was extremely high. Life presented scientists and entrepreneurs as exemplary Americans and offered step-by-step explanations of developments in the lab to the layperson.
Life’s coverage of both technology and science actualized the “visual society,” a society that is both created by and made necessary by increasing urbanization and the growth of technologically mediated communication. The magazine glorified science and technology, covered advances in a breathless tone, and presented technology as an expression of American ingenuity, all aspects that resonate today. To explore the construction of science and technology in the popular press, this talk reports on a narrative analysis which identified seven themes in the magazine: biography, education, magic, control over nature, American might, solution to modern problems, and the future.
Webb holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Michigan and a two master’s degrees and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin. She teaches in WWU’s Department of Journalism in the Visual Journalism Sequence. In her classes, she is committed to preparing students for the new media environment, which includes mastery of writing, design, and ethics for multimedia. Her scholarly research focuses on the interplay of visuals and text in the media, especially magazines, and how they embody and express larger cultural stories. This talk is part of a broader study devoted to Life magazine.
For more information about the Turning Points faculty speaker series call (360) 650-7545 or visit http://www.wwu.edu/turningpoints/. For those attending Turning Points faculty lectures, no parking permit is required to park after 5 p.m. in the gravel lost 12A and the C lots south of the Communications Facility, near Fairhaven College. Parking meters require payment all hours.