Modern Media and the Oil Industry

While radio, television, and especially film have often been seen as formative for the advent and experience of modernity, their close relationship to the oil industry tends to be overlooked. The aim of this project is to re-write the history of 20th century media culture through the lens of petroleum extraction, as the the advent of global media culture and petroleum extraction are historically linked and intertwined. Modern imaginaries have been shaped by oil as both a form of energy and a product since the early 20th century, as oil became the condition for mobility and travel, modern urban living standards, and a host of new products including the film strip. Spearheaded by Standard Oil, oil companies triggered a massive social and cultural change internationally producing and circulating moving images. Such industrial and sponsored films include educational, commercials, and documentaries that formed part of a larger cultural project to transform the image of oil exploitation, creating media interfaces that would allow corporations to coordinate their goals with broader cultural and societal concerns. This project analyses how film and other media have enacted a form of micro politics that worked towards the goal of naturalizing the consumption of oil.