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Sometimes our most spontaneous decisions turn out to be the best. Surprisingly, my favorite class this semester is the one I wasn’t confident in at first (and the only class I wasn’t confident in) need Given my main requirements, I accept). An introduction to performance studies by Douglas Jones analyzes performance through a variety of lenses. Assigned readings range from his lesser-known 20th century plays to analytical essays that seek to connect ritual and the need for human survival. Class discussions are enough to keep you energized for the week.
One of our first discussions raised the question of how far the definition of performance can be extended and, in doing so, how far it can be applied to everyday life. In other words, was Shakespeare right when he called the world a stage in his play As You Like It?
Some argue in the affirmative. In other words, we argue that social interaction is, to some extent, an act, a performance, shaped by context and spontaneity.
People may react defensively to this abstract idea. The idea that we might be “acting out” for the people around us instead of showing them who we really are is bold and may sound far-fetched. It has a ring to it that makes us uncomfortable. It might be better to say that we are in a matrix.
But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. In some ways, that seems like the only possible explanation. Why are our daily interactions so different? Take a standard corporate office as an example: all employees come to work in business casual attire, meet in conference rooms, You are expected to act like an adult, a real business adult, an adult interested in real business. No matter how you look at this phenomenon, you cannot conclude that everything is on some level, that is, a misrepresentation. Although the office generates real profits (though isn’t money itself a fabrication?), this pretense is not a true representation of how the same humans interact “in nature.” It’s not a thing. But what exactly is “wild”? Some may call it a bar, but bars also have their own social norms. The same man may be more daring in a bar, puffing out his chest to impress a woman.
When we interact with various people (called “characters”) in our lives, we change our tone, manipulate words, change our clothes (costumes?), change our facial expressions, and express ourselves. everything from how to behave. And it’s not easy to determine which version of you is your “real” self. If only there was such a thing.
In fact, it can be very uncomfortable to admit that we are multifaceted. We want to believe that we are honest with those around us. But at the same time, it is also something that cannot be denied. If we behaved in exactly the same way towards all our acquaintances, we would have very few colleagues and even fewer friends. Then, it’s not that we’re not being honest with those around us, or that we’re not showing our true selves, but that we’re adapting our “personality” to different situations. After all, even Macbeth did not act the same towards the king or towards his wife.
Therefore, there may be a middle ground. We wouldn’t be rude to our boss in the morning when we were feeling groggy, but we wouldn’t treat him that way either. all our true feelings.
As college students, we are always performing to some degree. From the way we smile broadly when we say “good morning” to our professors before class, to the way we explain our weekend to our parents over the phone (probably omitting a few dodgy details), to the way we tell our Even how to exaggerate your efforts. If you’re seriously Googling how to spell “acknowledgment” to impress everyone around you at the gym and you notice someone looking at your laptop screen, you can quickly switch to a tab in your inbox. How to click. When we encounter a tour group, we find ourselves performing. We feel pressure to “act like a college student” even though that’s who we are.
But most subtly, when we are alone, we even find ourselves performing for ourselves. This could be pretending to be part of a music video while looking out the car window when it’s raining, looking at your reflection while brushing your teeth, or running long distances. It looks like you pretend you heard the crowd cheering as you near the end. When you cross an imaginary finish line. In doing all these things, we get out of our skin and see ourselves from the outside.
When you encounter this analysis for the first time, it’s easy to go overboard and start believing that everything must be a performance. However, this is not always the case. That’s fine, but there’s a clear line between interaction and performance. It all comes down to your awareness of not performing. The moment we become conscious of our dual nature, we inevitably break the fourth wall and essentially acknowledge our performance. For example, consider how bilingual speakers feel after pronouncing a word incorrectly in their “second” accent when speaking to someone who normally uses their first accent. You may feel it.
Considering all this, performance may feel inevitable. The more aware we are of our dual nature, the more we will inevitably perform when interacting with those around us.
Even though we always want to be honest with our colleagues, we should be compassionate with ourselves. Performance does not necessarily have to involve deception or exploitation. Sometimes we feel pressure to behave according to societal standards. Consider the popular 2004 movie “Mean Girls.” The main character, Cady, initially pretends to be mean in order to be accepted by the “Plastics”, but eventually becomes a “mean girl”. Ultimately, she realizes that everyone is just trying to survive the catastrophe that is high school, and finds solace in compromising her true self and becoming a more mature and authentic self. I notice. Importantly, even the “plastics” felt pressure to be “popular” and “girly” in order to establish themselves in the high school’s social hierarchy.
Furthermore, most social situations have a certain level of performance expected, and deviations from this can be detrimental. For example, we college students shouldn’t shed our role as “students” and start acting like our friends around our professors.
As college students, we can easily point out everyone we’ve ever met who we feel is fake. Perhaps we have even felt that these people are only kind to us when people are watching. Above all, this theory of performance in everyday life gives us a new perspective. At the end of the day, we’re all just trying to fit in, and by accepting that performing is to some extent inevitable in certain social situations, we’ve avoided the label we used to label as a “fake.” You can realize that people who are angry are not necessarily bad people. I’m just trying to make it the best it can be. And maybe they’re just worse actors than we are.
Anna Garziella is a first-year student at Trinity. Her column typically appears every other Wednesday.
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