Emotion. We’ve heard this word so many times at this point, yet the word itself is still so complex for us to understand. But affect is also a word that we’re hearing more and more of, especially because of this class. Thinking about how a physical location or place has affect is a really interesting idea to wrap my head around. Something that Brian Massumi really emphasizes in his essay is that affect is not the same thing as emotion. Massumi states that while our emotions are self-produced and personal to us, affect is a physical energy found not in humans but in objects. Affect is placed upon us, and our emotions are actually the small sliver of affect that our bodies are able to capture. Massumi says “Emotion is qualified intensity” and that emotion is “intensity owned and recognized” (28).
Why aren’t our bodies able to capture affect? Well Masumi says that affect is so strong and powerful that we cannot actually capture affect in its entirety, that affect constantly escapes us and our body’s cannot confine affect. A nice analogy is like our own little hands trying to hold onto all the sand in the world; it’s just not possible. There’s so, so much sand in the world (like affect), but sand will easily slip through our fingers because our hands just physically aren’t able to grasp it all. He also shares that we feel this sense of aliveness from the continual escape of affect from our bodies. Isn’t that pretty neat? It’s like our bodies feel energized and excited by the small parts of affect that we are able to grasp onto and capture. It’s like our bodies’ victory response! Yes, we were able to catch this sliver of elusive affect. I want more, I want more!
Massumi states that our reaction to or perception of something is heavily dependent on the intensity of the object, like an image or location. Intensity is our unconscious reaction and feeling to the affect that is produced. Massumi states that “[i]ntensity is embodied in purely autonomic reactions more directly manifested in the skin” (25), meaning that our reactions to something’s intensity is bodily and physical. While there are aspects of an image or object that we can understand and make sense of such as its contents, its intensity is something we are not consciously aware of. How something is organized or designed adds to the intensity of the space or thing. For my media ecology, I’m studying libraries, and libraries can definitely have intense settings. But why?
Everything in the library contributes to its affect and intensity. The temperature of the room, how dim or dark the lights are, how high the ceilings are, how the tables and desks are positioned, how many books and book shelves are present, and how many windows are there all add to a library’s intensity. And of course all libraries will feel different, just like any and all places we’ll visit. All the physicalities of a library sets the atmosphere and vibe of it. The architecture of libraries is one of the most prominent ways that we can notice intensity and affect at work. The focus of my media ecology is to try and analyze how people are affected when in libraries and why some libraries make us feel this way while others make us feel another. Libraries are supposed to be intense settings, encouraging us to focus and get down to work. But libraries are also supposed to be comfortable places where we do not feel too tense or stressed. Libraries try to achieve these in various ways, and I can begin to analyze these ways through the affect of libraries.
Just by looking at both photos of the different libraries, we can already feel different types of intensities from them just by how the library looks and is structured.
What I believe Massumi wants us to understand is that everything gives off a sense of energy and intensity, and we should be able to understand that this intensity is something we automatically, unconsciously react to. Massumi’s thoughts have really forced me to realize and understand that our bodies will automatically react to something, and that we’ll feel certain ways based on the energies that are around us.
I have a lot of feelings, and I often tell myself I don’t know why I’m feeling all these emotions. But maybe I’ll start taking notice of how these emotions may be because of affect at work. Maybe I’m not emotionally unstable. Maybe it’s just affect.
-Joyce
Digital Media Theory 
I nominate this blogpost for best learning. I loved the tone of your post, and you used language that was easy for me to follow and understand your points. I loved how you brought in our class readings, and immediately followed up them your own summary/explanation. I appreciate the analysis of Massumi overall as well; I used his reading for my own posts too, and reading your post helped clear up/better understand some foggy questions I had on his ideology of emotion and affect. Great writing!
I choose your post for best learning. I genuinely appreciated how you simplify concepts using a conversational voice. You also do a great job in translating Massumi’s thoughts
Like Diana, I would also like to nominate this blog post as the “best learning” post. The reason being that Joyce was not just able to translate Massumi’s remarks on how our bodies capture effect, but was also able to express it in her own way using the “body’s victory response” analogy in the second paragraph.
Joyce was also able to apply the concepts she mentioned to her ecology, and that’s a plus. Unsavory gif aside, I thought this was a nice blog post overall.
the best learning: a very thoughtful post; the title grabbed my attention and then I started reading and engaging into your post. I like your thoughts and critics on Massumi and then how to apply his ideas into the libraries. Especially since library is very meaningful and daily-used to most of the college students, we often under-estimate its importance and affect on us:) I am very looking forward to see your project.
I nominate this post for the “best learning”. I like how you slowly yet fluently analyze “affect” Massumi talks about in the first two paragraphs, which is very clear and easy to follow. Also how you integrate library as an example later, which gives a concrete example that pinpoints the key points. – Abby
Hi Joyce! Great job with blog post #2. I’m nominating your for “best learning.” The Massumi reading felt completely incomprehensible to me, no matter how many times I read and re-read sentences. But you’ve managed to bring what she’s saying down to Earth in an extremely understandable, applicable way. This paragraph in particular was an, “Oh, now I get it” moment for me:
“What I believe Massumi wants us to understand is that everything gives off a sense of energy and intensity, and we should be able to understand that this intensity is something we automatically, unconsciously react to. Massumi’s thoughts have really forced me to realize and understand that our bodies will automatically react to something, and that we’ll feel certain ways based on the energies that are around us. ”
Thanks for enlightening me on the complexity of Massumi.
best learning- i liked your use of the analogy of sand to explain affect. I also think you did a great job at incorporating quotes as well as explaining their meanings to provide the reader with a more complete understanding of the texts discussed.
-Sydney
Best learning: Joyce, you put into words what I could not. I like the way you explained the idea of intensity using your ecology as an example because it made Massumi’s readings much less abstract. Furthermore, you made sure to emphasize the sheer scale of affect and how it differs from emotion before writing about your ecology, which made your point clearer.
-Mary
I definitely agree with my fellow commenters that you did a great job conveying Massumi’s text in a very digestible way, but because of your supporting media and your very clear and engaging style, I think your post is the best overall! I really loved your subtle enthusiasm without the post as well, with lines like “isn’t that neat?” I also think the use of struggling to understand your emotions, especially in their relation to affect, was a great way to frame your post because it’s definitely something a lot of us can relate to. Great job!
– Kristen
Best Learning! This post uses clear language, well-chosen graphics, and an overall relatively straightforward example to illustrate what can be a very abstract constellation of theory. Because it is right to the point, and obvious in a, let me stress, GOOD way, this post is exceptionally effective.
-sam