Blog Post 2: Pontypool and the Power of Media

  2.  In Pontypool, the "language virus" presents an interesting case when analyzed through Harold Innis' framework of time-biased and space-biased media. Innis distinguishes between time-biased media, which emphasize the preservation of culture and knowledge over long periods, and space-biased media, which facilitate the rapid dissemination of information over distances. In the film, the virus spreads not through physical contact, but through the understanding of specific words. Language plays a crucial role in how the virus transmits, and this transmission is amplified by modern media forms such as radio, telephones, and electronic amplification. These media, especially radio, allow the virus to spread quickly across a large area, infecting individuals who hear and understand the infected language. 

    The virus in Pontypool is an example of space bias, as the primary concern is not the preservation of knowledge over time but rather the rapid spread of information across physical space. The language virus moves swiftly through spoken words, infecting people via radio broadcasts underscoring how quickly media can transmit messages or in this case, a virus. Radio, in particular, exemplifies space-biased media by enabling near-instant communication over vast distances, ensuring that the virus spreads uncontrollably once it has entered the airwaves. 

    In this way, Pontypool explores how modern forms of media with their space-biased sociotechnical efforts, represent contemporary forms of orality. Oral communication no longer exists in isolated, interpersonal exchanges but instead moves across expansive networks where the spoken word can reach and influence (or infect) masses in real time. This creates a vulnerability that Pontypool dramatizes in a world where words spread instantaneously, language can become as dangerous and uncontrollable as any physical disease or infection.