Why Are We So Concerned With Our Image Essay Example

Why Are We So Concerned With Our Image Essay Example Why Are We So Concerned With Our Image Essay Why Are We So Concerned With Our Image Essay We are subsequently concerned with our image and the manner others, around us perceive us. We strive, everyday to shine within a multitude of stars and to be fully appreciated by our friends, family and associates. We put on a show, each day according to the way we aspire others to view us, as individual people, who stand out and deserve an encore on our own, personal stages.Our world is a stage, our life is a drama, perfectly played out in our roles, and we are the actors, performing.   Each and every one of us, share similar aspirations in life and yearn for each one of our presentations to be ideal in order to achieve our goals.   Our personal stage must be precisely set and the audiences’ reaction or perception of our acting abilities will be demonstrated through their feedback.During one’s lifetime, a presentation on stage is not always what we anticipate, an event in which Erving Goffman referred to as a â€Å"dramaturgical analysis†.Our social life all ows for more than one role to played, for example, being a student, daughter, or lover, requires different presentations.   As Goffman mentions in his book â€Å"The Presentation of Self in Everyday life: Selections.† In our show, we offer an impression to the audience through verbal and body language, and the interaction we communicate to others, relays how we perceive ourselves.   Goffman views the world as micro sociology; social interactions, and according to Henslin, it is face to face interaction demonstrating how people react and behave when they come together and demonstrates how they get along and survive.First impressions are incredibly important since they may affect how others regard us as individuals, while they build our confidence and heighten our reputation as award winning. According to Henslin, â€Å"When you first meet someone, you cannot help but notice certain features, especially the person’s sex, race, age and clothing†. We develop oth er impressions through vision and   by listening to the character. You may possibly hear someone’s name or all about their story before you actually meet them and perhaps you have already developed a pre-developed image of that person.When you are first introduced to a person, important factors furnish us with a cause to imagine and possess assumptions regarding that individual, therefore, regardless of their true character or personality, your assumptions have already shaped your first impression. This is an important explanation of why people are so concern in relation to their image, since all factors have persuasive influence on a person’s social life.The scene displayed when Mary Harron first met with Andy Warhol, is one demonstration of a first impression of an individual. (Harron, 1980) In the article â€Å"Pop Art/ Art Pop: The Warhol Connection,† before Harron actually met with Andy Warhol, she had previously heard numerous stories in relation to Warh ol, and she had already develop a vivid impression of Warhol, consequently, there was little shock about his overall appearance and personality and she was only surprised about Warhol‘s age.Pop art was a subject that came to mind when one imagined Warhol, so his age was never a consideration.Henslin mentions in his book titled â€Å"Essential of Sociology†, (Henslin, 2004) that â€Å"We possess ideas on how we want others to judge us, and we use our character roles in everyday life to communicate these ideas. Goffman referred to these efforts which manage the impressions that others receive from us, as â€Å"impression management†.   Goffman also considered impression management as a way to control our performance as we perform in a certain manner; one that an audience expects from us so they may be guided against an unexpected and unfamiliar scene.I play the role of a daughter, for my parents and my attitude is always respectful and polite since this is how I want to present myself to them.According to lecture notes on micro sociology, Professor Steve discusses the Goffman’s Theory where he explains that â€Å"We are all trying to present an idealized vision of ourselves while trying to hide our very real problems or shortcomings†.   We consistently   want to offer a good impression by acting out what we think others want, so we continually perform our roles according to what the audience wants to see, and the advantage is that we will gain an excellent   reputation if we do meet their expectations but if we fail to meet those expectations, we fail while performing that role.Goffman looks at our daily life as a performance played out on a big stage and as actors performing for our audience; we must remember that what we perform will be our major â€Å"appearance.† Goffman also articulates that â€Å"It is an appearance on the front stage,† which also implies that there is an aspect of our personalities that yet remains on the back stage but front stage is what Goffman is concerned with thus our performance for others will be routinely acknowledged by society. As Speakers in our school clubs and dinners, we are considered actors in a front stage performance.According to an article â€Å"The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life: Selections† by Goffman, he refers to our performances as â€Å"All the activity of an individual which occurs during a period, marked by continuous presence before a particular set of observers and has some influence on our observers.†Ã‚   He also mentions that there are various elements in our appearances. The stage setting includes our physical layout while the background supports our stage. The setting will allow the audience to follow our performance, while the appearance and our method basically describes our social status and the role we play will demonstrate to the audience the level of our educational background and enlighten them whet her we are involved in social activities or if we are aggressive actors, displaying us as great leaders in our performance.In â€Å"The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life: Selection†, Goffman divided the front stage into two parts; we â€Å"give† and â€Å"give off†.   The give involves verbal symbols which he utilized to convey the information in helping the performer and audience to engage in the performance, while the â€Å"give off† includes a wide range of action performances in which the audience may consider feeling sympathy for the actor.Since there is a front stage, there must also be a back stage, where we relax and showcase our full identities without being concerned with how others perceive us.According to the lecture notes by Professor Steve, most of our time is spent performing on front stage, which means wearing costumes and dressing up, however, our back stage performance is a place where we hide our true problems, since everyone does have a secret about themselves. A person may have a drinking problem, gambling or some illegal activity that they wish to keep private. They may try to hide   pieces of their life and during their performance, they may give a different impression to others about who they really are. Goffman offers that we have to conceal the process in order to make our stage performance.   If Goffman is correct in his theory, then we all are exceptional actors who deserve to win Oscars!As Goffman pointed out in his article (Goffman, 1959) â€Å"The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life: Selection†, â€Å"In order to get the setting right for the performance, manner calculating is also important,† which means that good designs should be a big part of the setting and like Mary Harron, Goffman shares her ideas of first impressions, as in her online article â€Å"Pop Art/ Art Pop†, she mentions that one of the reasons that Andy Warhol became a famous pop artist was due to the fact that he respectfully, knew how to calculate and manipulate the media.Warhol has displayed a man who had respect for money, fame and power.   He is a famous artist, who within his social connections is incredibly large, therefore, Harron made the connection that it is not only Warhol who became famous but the people around him; his friends and coworkers became famous, as well.   All famous people have one thing in common; they have more stages to perform on than an average individual, while one stage is for the media and the public, the other stages are held out for their friends and family.â€Å"Movies, radio and TV have changed the nature of fame†, Mary Harron explains that Andy Warhol used this type of communication to build the idea of Pop Art and today, in our society because Andy Warhol is a symbol of pop, and plays the achievement role in his performances and Pop Art is a standard that people and society determine on their own.Warhol built up an idealization of society as he heightened their expectations by expressing his wealth and power.   Goffman also agrees that material possessions are expressed as one of the most important parts of social class as a status symbol.According to our lecture notes, Goffman believes that each of us possess secrets and display our freakiness in some fashion and if we behave in an anticipated manner or perform differently than what others expect, they may feel that we are behaving irrationally, so there is the chance that you could be considered less desirable as a human being.The movie â€Å"Boy’s Don’t Cry† was inspired by a true story by Brandon Teena who has a sexual identity crisis, since she was born with a female’s body but thinks like a male. She cut her hair and taped down her breasts which made her look like a man; her way of setting her stage for her own performance; one that began when she arrived in Nebraska.   The new audience had no idea that she was a female. When Brandon Teena falls in love with Lana and becomes one of Lana’s friends, performing as a young male, she offered a grand performance. Garfinkel offered that she â€Å"Engaged in activities that made her appear to be something she wasn‘t.†Ã‚   The movie is not only about Brandon’s performance but about the environment that supports her status. Garfinkel also believes that we have to manage our own identities through hard work, achievement and accomplishment.There was nothing wrong with Brandon Teena as a person but she was not accepted and marginalized by the society, so she failed in her performance and end up murdered by Lana’s friendsI do believe that our society is changing because bisexuals are becoming more common and people tend to treat bisexuality as normal and in the movie â€Å"Boy’s Don’t Cry,† (Peirce, 1999) we understand how important and effective a front stage and back stage performance can be as we all want to find a spot in society where we can belong.In a personal experience of my own, I was studying aboard in England. When I first arrived at the school, I behaved as a quiet and shy stranger because I didn’t know anything about the people, in England. I didn’t want to offer a performance, until I know more about them..   When I was approached for conversation, I changed my performance by offering an outgoing person, who did want to talk and be socially interactive, in order to make friends.Sometimes, I am nice to people that I don’t like and I play that role. Goffman refers to this behavior as playing different roles, while others call it being two-faced, but the more I think about it, I understand that everyone might have more than two faces on their stage in life.There are many instances during my life performances, where I will be forced to make alterations but I will continue performing, offering an award winning performance!