Discuss the ways in which media representations are implicated in the construction of your identity.
I shall begin by questioning my own identity while using texts from Woodward and Hall. Those will help me understand how one’s identity is constructed under various collective and personal influences in the social context. I will then apply Althusser’s theory of interpellation to two media examples to show that although we often identify with someone who is sharing traits of identity with us, complete representation is not achievable since every individual is unique.
When asked for identification, I provide a European passport which is a formal way of presenting myself as a tall, white female in her early 20ies. My passport, however, does not say anything about what kind of person I am, but involuntarily associates me with a certain age group, ethnicity and a community of Eastern Europeans. Even when my Latvian origin is revealed, people tend to link me to the Polish culture due to a set of symbols – such as my accent and appearance. I have become even more aware of this fact myself and consequently, as Woodward describes, identity combines how I see myself and how the others see me (Woodward, 2004:7)although the two do not always fit and I do not always agree with society’s perceptions. Nonetheless, as a human being I try to find my place in society by being a part of the international culture with its different accents, religion, political and personal opinions. In Questions of Cultural Identity, Stuart Hall (1996:4) persuasively argues that identity is a subject of change within representation itself:
(...) actually identities are about questions of using the resources of history, language and culture in the process of becoming rather than being: not ‘who we are’ or ‘where we came from’, so much as what we might become, how we have been represented and how we might represent ourselves.
One way of such voluntarily representation is by identifying with a particular group of people. I enjoy watching tennis on TV although none of my friends have the same passion for this sport, therefore I go to Wimbledon at least once during the tournament to be with those who share this trait of identity with me. I demonstrate my support for certain players and by doing so I show the others who I am – meaning that I will not only be sharing the same identity, but also differ from the others. And this divide is something every human being experiences whilst having a shared identity as well as taking up various roles in the nowadays society, for instance:
I play (1) a temporary role of a student,
(2) a permanent, but not predetermined, role of an employee at the hotel and
(3) a romantic role of a girlfriend at home. These roles often collide and the domestic one suffers most due to its position within everyday interaction and the emotional involvement. Furthermore, when at university, I become aware of my race which is a new trait of my identity since being white is suddenly not a norm I was used to growing up. I am positioned as one of the few white individuals in a group, but it is our roles as students that give us a collective identity. Woodward acknowledges that identity is marked by similarity, that is of the people like us, and by difference, of those who are not (2004:7). Gender is an equally important aspect of building my identity and it affects my second role - as the only female reception supervisor, thus meaning that my work is just as valuable as ‘men’s work’. Woodward continues on gender issues by saying that:
Assumptions about what is appropriate for women and for men can shape and influence our identities and the scope which we have for deciding both ‘who we are’ and ‘who we want to be' (2004:7).
Consequently both authors, Woodward and Hall, agree that identities are continuous and constantly looking for a change within their representation, but it also means we are facing a social dilemma before the change occurs:
We are already sharing multiple identities with other members of this society and know what our similarities and differences are (and changing those is a long, time consuming process requiring devotion), so how do we even get an idea of who we want to be and what we might become? Where do we start looking for inspiration? The answer can be found within our everyday media consumption.
To begin with, I believe it is necessary to acknowledge that it escaping media is almost impossible in this day and age. TV shows/series, advertising, press, leaflets etc. are everywhere and can all be seen as part of a powerful force affecting not only our consumer choices, but also what we want for ourselves on a personal scale. These media representations speak to us through audio, visual and textual content and we tend to listen. Louis Althusser was a structural-Marxist who made an important attempt to resolve the problem of where the individual stands in relation to socially constructed and even determined identity positions when he argued that when people are recruited into identity positions they are interpellated or hailed (Woodward, 2004:19). I will be using an example of L’Oreal Elnett hairspray currently advertised by Cheryl Cole while revealing why it is addressing me directly unlike similar Elnett advertisement made in 2003 with Claudia Schiffer.
*Cheryl Cole in L’Oreal Elnett campaign, 2010 *Claudia Schiffer in L’Oreal Elnett campaign, 2003
Both images seen above promote the same product but use two different celebrity ambassadors to achieve the best effect possible. I immediately pay attention to Cheryl’s advert as a consumer because she is a long-haired-brunette like me on one side, and a successful woman of the same generation on the other. Claudia, in contrast, is a blonde supermodel of the 90ies and although she is also promoting Elnett hairspray, she does not hail at me - Claudia is older and out of the spotlight, thus I fail to see myself through her. Cheryl’s advert is inviting me to identify with a face of the campaign through the act of interpellation: “hey, girl, look at you – if Cheryl is worth it, so are you!” I am encouraged to become her and make myself even more special by purchasing this product of limited edition, but it also determines my position which Althusser describes as a subject of discourse. Likewise, I have unconsciously recognized features of my own identity in one of the advertisements while being unsuccessful in recognizing myself in the other. Stuart Hall quotes Heath to explain this occurrence in relation to interpellation:
Individuals are constituted as subjects through the discursive formation, a process of subjection in which the individual is identified as subject to the discursive formation in a structure of misrecognition. Interpellation names the mechanism of this structure of misrecognition, effectively the term of the subject in the discursive and the ideological, the point of their correspondence (Heath, in Hall, 1996:7).
It is engaging to see how a simple motionless advert speaks to audiences whilst silently hailing for attention, so it raises another question: would the impact of the illusion be enhanced through a consumption of video/audio media?
Let’s look at the US hit series Glee (2009) created by Ryan Murphy and a phenomenon which appeals to audiences of all ages, race and gender and myself personally. Not only has Glee managed to create a general feel-good-atmosphere as a musical TV show, it has also shown that this is achievable while putting together a group of very different people and creating a collective identity that connects them on screen. Viewers, on the other hand, can identify whether with kid’s patient mentor Will Schuester who is still chasing a dream of musical success, or with awkward teen Tina and her gothic looks – only to mention a few characters. They all really come to life through singing and camera follows these kids through long shots and close-ups when focusing on a particular emotion that Mr Schuester musical assignments provoke. The camera wants to catch the spectators look and draw him/her into the storyline. In “Spectator, Audience and Response” Jill Nelmes reveals that viewers have been ‘hailed’ from the very beginning of camera-spectator relationship and connects it to interpellation practice when talking about film medium. She points out that interpellation refers to the distinctive way the spectator is, as it were, placed inside the fiction world, placed by the apparatus and by the conventions of medium’s form (Nelmes, 2007:151). In other words, we find ourselves in the audience and on stage as if we were part of the performance alongside other characters or simply following them through the day. Moreover, media consumption takes place on the ideological level which subsequently affects our representation and response. As mentioned earlier, drawing from Hall’s point-of-view, identities are constructed within representation, therefore media and identity are rather closely linked. But is a complete representation even possible? Can we fully identify with someone on screen?
From the very first episode of Glee which aired on 19th May 2009 in US I found that a male protagonist Finn Hudson represents me more than the others. Although I can not identify with Finn’s appearance completely due to our gender differences, there are still some features that we share. Finn is often being teased as ‘the tall one’ which I have also experienced as a compliment and an insult; a person’s height, after all, is likely to highlight his/her difference from the others. Nonetheless, he is seen as ‘Mr Popular’ at school which, I believe, has also helped him to become a co-captain of the Glee club. He shares this position with a female (Rachel Berry) whereas I’m sharing my responsibilities with other male colleagues equally. Finn is a part of the society where he currently plays a role of the only child while being a high-school student and a boyfriend, and these roles shape him. But what relates to me most is that he’s aware of his search for identity and expects more of himself every day of his life while branding those, who are afraid from challenges, losers (in episode 1, 2009). Cory Monteith, an actor playing Finn, speaks about his character: ”He walks a fine line between following his dreams and balancing what other people expect of him (www.nypost.com)” He steps out of his comfort ‘Mr Popular’ zone by joining Glee and gradually benefiting from the comfort of collective identity which helps Finn find a new self with every number he does with a club. Despite the fact that Finn Hudson is a fictional character whom I interact with only once a week, I feel that he represents me more than anyone else seen on big or small screen. But he enters the social order as a man therefore this representation of me is not fully complete.
Overall, questioning identity only gives us a platform for never-ending research of finding out “who am I?” Identity itself is not constructed in the present tense, it is always floating or, in other words, it is not fixed and we are therefore looking for improvement while asking “what can I become?” instead. We are seeking identification examples in the media which draw our attention via interpellation practices first mentioned by Althusser, but such representation, I believe makes differences even more visible. After all, the ingredients that form the identity can never be the same as someone else’s, nor can those be arranged in the same order, quantity or quality. It is the mix of race, gender, class etc. that makes make each identity unique while constantly adding new features. Regardless of how many of those we share with someone else, that person (whether real or media-created) can never be me and could never represent me fully.
Bibliograhy:
Hall, S. (1996) “Introduction: Who needs ‘identity’?” in Stuart Hall and Paul du Gay (eds) Questions of Cultural Identity. London:Sage
Nelmes, J.(2007) “Spectator, Audience and Response” in Jill Nelmes (ed) Introduction to Film Studies. London:Routledge
Woodward, K. (2004) “Chapter 1: Questions of Identity” in Questioning Identity. Open University
Video:
Glee (2009), Season 1, Episode 1. Fox: US
