Hot
and Cool
As applied to communications, the terms "hot" and "cool,"
were first introduced by the controversial culture maven and media theorist
H.
Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980).
In keeping with his own stylistic practice
(which favored gnomic utterances, terse aphorisms, polysemous wordplay,
and figurative language instead of literal statement and straightforward
expository discourse) McLuhan offered the concepts of "hot" and "cool"
more as provocative metaphors than as practical analytic tools. Nevertheless
the terms do have definable meanings and have proven to be highly
useful in identifying the operations and effects of different media.
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According to McLuhan, a "hot" medium is one which extends a single sense
in high definition.
High definition refers to the quality of being densely
filled with information. A sharp photograph, for example, is highly defined,
whereas a blurry one has relatively low definition. Similarly, a detailed
portrait is high definition; a caricature or cartoon likeness is low definition.
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A "hot" signal stands out very noticably from its background.
Bold print is hot. A page of legal boilerplate
is cool. An over-the-top, hyper-emotional acting style (Al Pacino) is hot.
A subtle, low-key style (Steve McQueen) is cool.
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A "hot" (i.e., high-impact or data-saturated) medium requires relatively
little participation or completion by the receiver.
In other words, audiences for "hot" media generally
do not have to fill voids or interpret sketchy information (as they frequently
must in the case of "grainier," more diffuse, more fragmentary media).
Think of the difference in image quality between film and TV, or photography
and radar. The "hot" visual information of a color photo can be simply
and effectively seen; the "cooler" information in an X-ray photograph
or radar image must be interpreted or read.
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A "cool" medium is one which extends a single sense in relatively
low definition.
Broadcast TV, by this definition, is cool; cable TV
is lukewarm; HDTV is hot.
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A "cool" or low-impact signal tends to blend in with its surrounding
background.
A gray flag, for example, is cool; a brightly colored
one is hot. A shout is hot; a birdcall is cool.
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A "cool" medium requires a higher degree of participation or completion
on the part of the receiver.
Hence unamplified speech is "cool" to the extent that
it requires extra effort or attention on the part of the audience. A Morse
code signal is cool; high fidelity sound is hot.
Cool
Jazz?
"When you want your audience to pay attention and really listen
to a note or phrase, play it soft."--Wynton Marsalis.
Note: Don't confuse the "meaning" of a message, which may be
complicated or difficult (and may therefore demand a considerable effort
of audience interpretation) with the message itself. In painting or film,
for example, the "meaning" of a particular image may be baffling or ambiguous,
even though its quality--hence the viewer's recognition of what the image
is--is perfectly clear.
A sign that announces WRXYH
in bright red letters sends a clear (i.e., "hot"), visible message, even
though its meaning is obscure. On the other hand, a sign that says OPEN
in gray letters on a neutral background is "cool" and difficult to read,
though its meaning is very clear.
Adjusting the Temperature
Theoretically, a hot medium can be "cooled down"
by adding noise or removing information. Similarly, a "cool" signal can
be heated up by adding information or eliminating noise. A .GIF (image)
file accessed on the Internet progressively "warms up" as it forms itself
on the monitor screen. A strange, muffled voice over the telephone is not
merely chilling, in McLuhanist terms it's "cool."
According to the poet Archibald MacLeish, "A
poem should be palpable and mute/ Like a globed fruit. . . . It should
not mean, but be." In other words, a truly pure poetic statement would
have the sensual impact and communicative immediacy--the comparative heat--of
music, of graphic art, of nature itself.
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