Josh Horniak Blog post #2

 

McLuhan argues that media can shape how we use our senses and experience the world. In Pontypool, hearing and understanding certain words can infect people, turning everyday conversation into something dangerous because listeners take in their meaning. Radio carries those words to people who are far apart, showing McLuhan’s point that a medium changes the scale and pattern of human interaction. The same voices that help listeners feel connected to their community can also put them at risk, making listening itself part of the threat. When Grant helps Sydney by changing what words mean, it suggests that the virus depends on the familiar meanings people attach to language, rather than just the sounds they hear.