Toward a Phenomenology of Media

In his aesthetics, as shown in Chap. 8 , Blaustein formulated a sophisticated theory of the aesthetic experience and the aesthetic object. However, the value of his approach was evidenced not only by theoretical examinations but also by detailed and rich descriptions of different aesthetic phenomena. Whereas in the previous chapter I was interested in the basics of Blaustein’s aesthetic theory, the present chapter concerns its concrete applications; more precisely, I will outline his phenomenology of media as an example of the application of descriptive tools in the analysis of cinema and radio experiences. In doing so, I want to discuss Paul Majkut’s thesis that “[p]henomenological media studies begin with Roman Ingarden’s investigations into the ontology of a literary work, but extensions of ideas that were confirmed to print media are easily made to other media.” I attempt to show that Majkut did not take into account Blaustein’s contribution to the field, which was developed in the same period as Ingarden’s theory and which (contrary to Ingarden) directly addressed media (film and radio) experiences. Blaustein’s input was noticed by, for instance, Jan Czerkawski (together with Antoni B. Stępień and Stanisław Wielgus), Zofia Rosińska, Wioletta Miskiewicz, Jagna Brudzińska and, more recently, by Joanna Pluta. Czerkawski et al. called Blaustein “a pioneer in psychology pertaining to film and radio.” In this vein, Rosińska and Pluta also described him as a “pioneer” in studies on the reception of media and its influence on the human mind. Miskiewicz noted that Blaustein “[…] kept an active interest for research in […] media communication” and his research “[…] anticipated (with great subtlety) many theories, such as Wollheim’s ‘seeing-in’ in aesthetic theory and McLuhan’s ‘the medium is the message’ well known in media study.” In her text on aisthēsis and phantasma, Brudzińska identified Blaustein as the author of the “[…] first phenomenological theory of media,” in which he analyzed “[…] the mediating function of imaginative consciousness.” These views require a brief comment.