Sartre’s Bad Faith paper made me think about quiet a lot of things…in this text I will expose briefly some of those ideas that I had..and some memories. The topic is what we commonly do in our daily lives…we put masks in order to “fit” in society.
I went to Venice during my stay in Europe and I took a guided tour. The guide Marco, told us the story about the masks that are emblematic from Venice. He explained that venicians used to wear masks for the carnival that is hold on February as a way of fitting in Society that was strongly divided into high society and the poor. They use to wear them because as their faces were covered they could not be recognized, so as a result, they became anonymous. The purpose of carnival was to become anonymous so that the social breach would be erased during a month or two.
On the other hand, he told us that people use to wear masks too when they were going to commit an act that wasn’t approved by society, so that they would not be recognized by anyone. This may sound very funny, I actually laughed a lot. But it made me recall the times when one becomes a mass. “The mass-man” acting as a bunch of people not even worrying about consequences because you believe that you will not be recognized, or because you are so full of others that you act for them and not for your own will. Personally, I hate this the most. I see this in my country (Argentina) when there is a soccer match..people get really violent because their team lost..they lose control of themselves and end doing things that they would have never imagined.
Another thing that came to my mind where all the rolls that we constantly have to deal with. What I mean with this is that we have to be daughters, sisters, students, taxi-drivers, lawyers, whatever! And as we are completing these rolls that are expected from us, we shift from one place to another as it was natural when it actually isn’t.. We have to change our way of acting, speaking and even thinking. We shift and shift during our whole life.. This is so unnatural…I have never seen an animal complying with so many characters and just not being himself. At the end we end up not even knowing ourselves.
Another mask would be when someone that you know (but do not even like) passes by and asks you “how are you dude?” And even if you are feeling miserable about it you have to put on a mask and answer happily and seeming so interested in the other one Because that is socially correct. I know that one has to be polite and everything..but why being a fake?
But the massive expression of masks and denying our essence is when we meet someone…we usually put on a mask that shows what we wish that the other thought about us…its king of funny, because sometimes we get a first impression that ends up just being exactly an impression because the character ended up being the total opposite.
What I want to say is t,hat we have to be a little more authentic, not the authentic that is in vogue now and that want to act diffenret (they end up being all the same). We have to try not to deny others, see them as a whole and not as objects or means of getting something or someone.
Hey Lucia,
ReplyDeleteYour post made me think more than about Sartre’s philosophy, of Goffman’s sociological theories. I don’t know if you’ve heard of him, he is a twentieth century american sociologist well known for his study of symbolic interaction. He especially worked on the notion of social interaction in everyday life and with this idea of masks and roles we have to play. He actually used a drama metaphor to sum it all up in a book he published in 1956, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
In this work he goes on about exactly the same things as you do in your post. He describes the way individuals try to shape the Other’s perception of themselves when they interact as well as the fact that this Other tries to form an homogenous image of the one he is interacting with. He emphasizes the fact that individuals play different roles depending on their interlocutors, engaging in numerous role plays which have to be maintained for the sake of social codes. Therefore, he links these day-to-day interactions with theatre. Individuals are somehow « on stage » when they interact with others. They simultaneously have to be, as you emphasized, daughters/sons, students, lovers, friends etc. It is only when alone that they can reconstitute a somehow « whole » undefined version of themselves. He then assimilates interaction with an idea of cold war. Individuals sometimes tend to fail at their roles or at least to play them imperfectly. Yet, the Other overcome these flaws and straws in order to save social appearances and to avoid multiple open conflicts that would lead to the desegregation of the numerous relationships he has built.
In other works, such as Asylum, he also mentions the fact that those who fail to play these different roles, to keep up with the different social codes, are considered deviant and unfit for life in society. If not responding in accordance with social codes, the individual is stigmatized as being deviant or even as crazy if he goes too far…
So your post made me think of this author, who you might be interested in discovering if you haven’t already done so !
Thank you for your comment Lucie!
DeleteI had no idea about this writter, but believe me that I will be reading his work really soon. He and I will get along real well!,
Hi Lucia ! Thank you for your post, it reminds me the inscription in the hall of The Globe Theatre, « Totus mundus agit histrionem » (the entire world is a theatre stage). In your post you put forward that we play a part in our every day life, and you said "we have to be a little more authentic", actually I agree with you, the world would be better if we were more honest, but I don't think it is possible. In fact, by the way of existing we have to play a part, we have to live as human being, not as an animal for example. I admit, sometimes it is frustrating that we have to be as the society and the habits make us. The fact of playing a part is almost "genetic" I think.
ReplyDeleteThe question of the masks is very interesting, because if every one is wearing a mask, we just know the person as she wants us to know, but according to me we have to respect this person and her choice. Moreover the real question is : what kind of mask am I wearing ? What kind of image am I returning to the others ? It is difficult to answer to those questions, because, I think, we know the person who we are only when we finish our life, and it is the all irony of life.
And finally as far as I am concern, I believe that the meaning of being human is wearing masks and deal with.
Hi Lucia ! First of all, I would like to thank you for your post. It made me think about our daily behaviour.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I agree with you, everyday, we have to live with masks. We constantly have to be politically correct. Human beings are social creatures. That's why, we are determined by the society in wich we live. We should be used to make our own masks. But, that's not really the case.
In your post, you says that we must be a little bit more authentic, sincere. We must be who we really are. Well, what about the meaning of being who we really are ? Who is behind the mask ?What does it mean to be authentic. Who are we ? Maybe, we are only each of the masks we diarly made … . Each of them would represent a part of our personalities. Of course, we have to make the difference between personality, social character and identity. Nevertheless, I really believe that we take each of this masks because each of them is a piece of our identity. So, is identity a mask ? In your post, identity is like to be authentic, that's to mean who we are inside. In fact, by asking the question : « Who are we ? » are we not asking « Who would you like to be ? ».
Masks are a necessity in order to protect us against the world out. If the mask is not too intrusive, if it is not creating us a new identity, it could be useful. Indeed, even if we have masks, the more important is to be authentic, to be who we really are, to begin who we are according to Nietzshe. So, are we not forced to keep our masks as a moderate protection to deal with the society ?
Hey Lucia,
ReplyDeleteSuper intriguing post, and really examines the level to which we, as member of society, have to play a certain role to match the expectations of those whom which we interact with. Your post tackles an issue I've trying to examine about myself; that is, if the way I am used to interacting with people socially has been a lie for the past 21 years of my life and there is a real "authentic Sasha" beneath or if my supposed mask is really me.
For a while, I believed your sentiment. That we are all wearing masks, including myself, and that I need to dig deeper to really discover who I am. But in recent months, I've had a reversal of opinion. It's quite nice to have a mental short-cut in considering 'who we are as people' in such black and white terms, however I agree with Fiona's point above. I personally don't think there is a concrete "self" beneath our social veneers; that we are the accumulation of our masks. In each interaction, we play a different role, and these different roles add up to define us. And as we go through life, we will explore an increasing amounts of roles. These roles aren't necessarily going to be fake, they might feel very real in the moment. And at the end of our lives, when we look back and reflect on who we are, we'll see that we were never just one "real" self, and really just a multitude of personalities/roles.