For the second part of this assignment, the aim was to find another avatar and compare and contrast it with my own, using a critic or theorist that we have discussed so far in the semester. Since the first assignment for this semester consisted of creating a blog and a Twitter account, I thought it more than fitting to check out an avatar of one of the people I follow on Twitter. Let's use Stephen Colbert's image on Twitter as an example.
Critical theorist David Bell would assert that both Stephen Colbert and I are presenting a reconstructed image of ourselves through these pictures in the public sphere of the internet. Rather than agreeing with typical notions of identity as a fixed and biologically determined entity, the way we represent ourselves according to Bell is manifold, complex and fluid. In other words, a social construction. Through the repetitive use of certain ways we represent our character, this character seems to be all the more definite over time. However, my image just shows a finite part of my character traits and personality, and the same can be said for Stephen Colbert. Our selves become so fragmented and pluralistic, especially as a result of our communication with others through so many scattered and diverse mediums with the acceleration of modern technology. Needing to consolidate some fiction of a unified self, both Stephen Colbert and I use an avatar as a “self conscious articulation of self-identity.”
Mr. Colbert has a very specific image to he uphold as a nationally (and globally) recognized public figure, which was why I was interested in using his avatar rather than that of a random user online. With the exaggerated expression and the use of the mask, the image in question very clearly presents Stephen Colbert as theatrical in nature and echoes his humorous public outlook. To supplement the picture his Twitter status says, "I've been known to tickle the ivories, which is why I'm not allowed near the elephants at the zoo," which only really furthers my point on his public persona. By reading Stephen Colbert’s avatar image as cultural text, something can be said for characterization of self on the internet. The public expects a certain recurrence of the identity that Stephen Colbert displays outwardly. But surely Stephen Colbert isn't always so fiercely jovial and funny. Surely there are multiple sides of him that we do not see because he chooses to keep them private either for general decency or because it would alter public perceptions in a way that may be detrimental to his online and television appearances.
It doesn't seem unreasonable to characterize all such avatars and public displays of self on the interwebs as theatrical; Stephen Colbert just happens to be a public figure and so his own images magnify what we might see in our own. Take my avatar, for example. It is still a picture of me, but obviously does not show every facet of my life. I don't even know every facet of my life. But the fact that I chose this particular picture of me sitting on a couch in a field wearing Ray-Bans means that there was a deliberate thought process on my part. Though different from Mr. Colbert's, my expression and body language denote theatricality as well. Posing for the camera. The high contrast and skewed colors may have been a desire to be represented as "cool," but the outside viewer may think otherwise, even if that was my original intent. But I know I'm not cool in all areas of my life. I don't spend all of my time sitting on living room furniture in rural settings in sunglasses. I don't even own Ray-Bans. Those weren't mine.
As Bell would say, I have created an enabling fiction of a unified self through the use of this photo as my avatar. The fact that I have now just publicized it for general scrutiny only further deconstructs this false sense of wholeness in identity. But unlike Stephen Colbert, I am not a worldwide media icon, so why should I distill myself into an image and have it correspond with my life as whole (even though it doesn't actually)? My only reply is, what else can we do, as humans? Whether online or off, our identities are always fragmented and therefore all we can impart on an observer is a partial image of self. The internet just speeds of that process of fragmentation. The internet as a whole is theatrical, and we feed into it. We'll never really know what is at the core of Stephen Colbert's being, and no one will ever really know what is at the core of mine, so in place of real identity, I think I'm okay with a mask and some sunglasses.
David Bell, An Introduction to Cybercultures (NY: Routledge, 2001).
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