Identity is the subjective view of ourselves and the ways in which we fit into the world. This is detailed by physical, psychological, and interpersonal attributes that allow us to define a sense of community or belonging. One concept about identity that I found really interesting was the debate over structure and agency and begs the question, do we truly have control over the choices we make? It is clear that media displays cultural norms and the desired life. Many subscribe to this idea by presenting their electronic and public selves as very different from their internal identity. This performative action in following the defined structure may inherently limit our ability to make decisions that best serve ourselves, therefore, inhibiting agency. This idea is amplified by 21st century’s hyperfixation on social media, but is not new. For example, I think to federal restriction in national television in the 1950s, where characters who were openly gay were prohibited from the screen. Thus, many who were gay at the time never saw representation in media and were significantly more likely to hide their sexuality as it did not conform with the norm. Media tends to reflect the widely “acceptable” or desired self.
3 thoughts on “Keyword #2: Identity”
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I think you pose a really important question here, which is “does identity exist as independent from media?” I wrote in my post about how media influences identity, but think it is very interesting to question how these can exist separately. I agree that the lack of representation of various identities in media can lead people to question or even reduce their identities. However, ideally, these identities should still be able to exist outside of their incarnation in the media. Sadly, this seems not to be the case. This leads me to wonder if certain facets of our identities are genuine, or merely imitations of what we are used to seeing in media.
I like your point about the identities we portray externally through self expression and how they differ from our “true identities” that we feel internally. I also agree that in an age of social media, we as a society feel a need to present ourselves that conforms with some type of norm. However, I think that our willingness to conform and present ourselves in certain ways may also be part of our identity. In that sense, maybe we don’t have multiple identities per-se, but subconsciously, one that is full of self consciousness and insecurity. As one person, we can only have one identity, but one that is extremely multifaceted and exposes different aspects of itself at different times depending on varying situations.
Really interesting example of the effects of not depicting gay men in popular media in the 1950s. We continue to face these challenges in terms of gender, race, and ethnicity depicted in media. There’s still a sense of a “white heterosexual male” gaze in the way “non-white, non-cisgender, non-hetero, non-male” characters are depicted.