Ragione e sentimento

Peripezie della catarsi da Apocalittici e integrati ai media digitali

Abstract

The article addresses three different interpretations of the concept of catharsis in three different texts: Apocalittici e integrati (Eco 1964), Montani (2020) and Bolter (2019). Despite substantial modifications, after sixty years the concept of catharsis still indicates the problem of media products’ effects on the consumers and the different positions about it, whether they would be “apocalyptic”, enthusiastic, or neutral. After an examination of these three texts, the article puts forth a semiotic interpretation, according to which media products entail a “sender” function of a “using program”, which subjects have to make “instable” or “plural” in order to make their use less mechanical. Thus, subjects could enable a wider range of responses, in order to manage the possible effects more consciously. In this way, the old contrast between media enthusiasts and detractors can be seen as a non-exclusive opposition.