FROM THE SCREEN TO ME, 1984–2008

Abstract

This paper explores Apple and Microsoft television commercials from the last 25 years and argues that they visualize three phases of the human–computer relationship through the changing positions of the computer and the human body. The three phases are: disembodied cyberspace, embodied hybridity and ubiquity. Ultimately, what becomes apparent is the extent to which these television commercials demonstrate what Henry Jenkins calls a ‘cultural convergence’ in relation to the human–computer relationship and why this convergence experienced a shift from phase one to phase two around the turn of the millennium. The paper ends by examining more recent Apple and Microsoft television commercials in order to explore the possibility of a new, third phase in the human–computer relationship.