On Facebook You Are Who You Are

Previously I’ve established what movies, television, novels, and other fictional media convey to American audiences. But how do such messages affect our everyday lives? We don't see people running around in spandex, using their massive amounts of money to save a dying city (that's government work). Nor do we see women blatantly transform themselves into queen b's just to prove a point. We do see individuals striving to better humanity through academics, public service, or just being nice, and we do see people change aspects of their lives to better fit in or stand out- whichever is perceived as the way to success.

Cosplay: Not just for Adults

To understand how New American Mythology affects individuals we have to survey how people present themselves to world where they present themselves. Now, you may think, oh, obviously people walking around on the street. No. When was the last time you presented all of your true self to the street corner? You don't walk around (I assume) declaring Harry Potter as the best book series, congressmen talking about rape are idiots, Shock Top is your new favorite beer, or Fantasy Football is the same as Dungeons and Dragon

These proud, albeit random, disclosures of person's personalities occur on Facebook. We present ourselves to the (Facebook) world as we truly see ourselves- unapologeticly (unless you are) redefining ourselves with each status update, 'Like,' wall post, friend request, and defriending. Despite earlier thoughts, people don't use Facebook to create idealized personas. They may censor themselves or refrain from revealing too much, but they want to create an accurate depiction of their true personality.

As opposed to The Sims, Second-Life, chatrooms, and the other anonymous corners of the world wide web, Facebook users see the website as a representation of who they are. It's the one stop shop where others can browse your traits and decide if you are worth 'Friending' and to what extent. (Should we just be FB friends or should I try to hang out with you at school?) Additionally, because Americans tend to only 'friend' people they've met in real life, their actions are accountable. For example, someone posts that they really hate Twilight. Her friends may comment and say that she does like Twilight but really doesn't like Kristin Stewart because she's jealous. Or, people won't want to be the Twilight hater's friend, because she just lied about hating Twilight because it's 'cool'. Typical drama things.


My point is, Facebook is not an avatar creator. If you're familiar with the Jungian Archetypes, Facebook is where "From the Self -the totality of the psyche- the individualized ego consciousness emerges as the individual grows up" (Jung, Man and his Symbols). That is, individuals assemble their 'whole' selves on Facebook, marrying her Shadow, Anima/Animus, and Persona to create a Self that her ego accepts as true, even as each archetype changes. Adapting and abandoning likes, thoughts, and friends allows people to in some sense physically change their Self archetype and better understand who they are as a person. What's more, other people can understand who they are as a person.

Our understanding of a person goes beyond the text: Female Interested in Males and is Married, and instead reads 'Female Interested in [really nice] Males [who enjoy the Southern lifestyle] [but there are none around so she] is ["]Married["] [to Best Friend Katie]. People post their discoveries. They post their triumphs. They post their worries. They post how they fit in. They post how they stand out. They post things they think people want to know- about themselves, factoids, politics, rants, coupons, family. The combination of these posts describe the individual, not the single elements.

We still haven't gotten to the Mythology part of this. Where are the Astronauts, Cowboys, and Zombies on Facebook? They're there, just in a more subtle way. Facebook users display what interests them. The following are fictionalized portraits sewn together from my various friends. You have to keep in mind these are personas because I'm making them up. I've tried to make them as believable/accurate as possible.

The Cowboy:

Perhaps he likes hunting, the TV show Weeds, he quotes Boondock Saints, and the last book he read was The Watchmen.  Him and his bros pose for their pictures with calculated aloofness. He brags about all the girls he met at the club tonight. His photo albums are full of all the 'edgy' things he does- going to house parties, jumping off cliffs, graffiti he saw, and him chillaxin'. His comments skirt towards offensive, but it just shows how witty and free from conformity he is. The profile picture- him and his mutt chillin' with a beer in his dirty backyard.

The Astronaut:

On the Astronaut's profile page is all the beneficial and exciting things the Astronaut does. Her 'job' may be Volunteer at the food bank. She quotes Ghandi, Planet Earth is is favorite TV show, and he reads books like Lost Horizon. Her photos are of exotic places,  on a service trip, or running a marathon. Her Wall is covered with links to interesting facts, news clips, and exciting internet finds. She comments on controversial topics, but in an enlightened way that shows her intelligence. She and her pound puppy snuggle in his apartment to make a cute profile picture.



The Zombie:

Likes The Office, True Blood, Adventuretime, Glee, The Hangover II, Brave, 300, Gone With the Wind, 50 Shades of Grey, The Black Eyed Peas, The Beatles, the Clash, and a plethora of other media. Her photos are of the latest product she bought, dinner she ate, or hairstyle. She updates her page with comments on the latest episode of Jersey Shore or complaint going around town. Her photo shows the cute new sweater she purchased for her cute white dog.

Not Mine.

Again, these are not real profiles. In fact someone who likes to chillax with his buds may also like The Hangover II. Someone who runs marathons may also  like to show off her hairstyle. Someone who has a cute white dog might also go to house parties. How the person presents these aspects of their life determines which archetype they subscribe too. Focusing on products and material possessions is a trait of Zombies, whereas the Astronaut focuses on actions and effects, and the Cowboy on whatever is on the mind.

Another way of putting it:
Astronaut strives to better the 'collective consciousness' using their ego
Cowboy considers the 'collective consciousness' but follows their ego
Zombie mimics the 'collective consciousness' in their ego.

Also, I want to state that the Zombie profiles are not necessarily bad things, as it may come off as in the post. As mentioned earlier, Profiles reflect the individual's changing Self, and going through a phase where one relies on the Persona (of the collective consciousness) is common. If it wasn't, there would be far fewer psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, and happy pills.

Comics are for Boys: Take-Away Message

The previous post was more of a rant than an analysis. I'm just going to clarify why marketing movies to boys  is more than just a consumerist desire for more products.

Hunger Games Barbie
Available online only. 

Marketing movies to only [White Anglo Protestant] boys discourages girls [and other races] from participating America's most important cultural activities. Television, video games, magazines, and other media remain below theater movies in the cultural hierarchy. Excluding females from the silver screen implies they lack a capacity, whether that be intellectual, social, or etc, that would otherwise make them equal to males and allow them to also become 'Good'* Americans.

For example: Spider-Man, an astronaut, is a hero and role model. The movie suggests that living well means shouldering responsibility and using whatever powers you have to help yourself and others. Not a bad message. But only boys can 'become' (buy) Spider-Man and have super-powers and save the city. That's a bad message.

Now, people can argue that girls won't want Spider-Man toys. That's a lie, but fine. At any rate, plenty of female centered movies could easily churn out products marketed to girls. See previous post. It's not the content I'm angered/saddened by, its the system that the message perpetuates.

It is easy to adapt television shows
into preexisting girl-toys, but not movies! Lies. 

The point is, American society sees males as the ultimate keeper of our culture. Selling products to boys too young to see the movie allows the young boys to feel included in the patriarchal structure. Once initiated into such a system, they grow up seeing themselves as powerful and responsible individuals that can choose and follow the American Dream, just like Spider-Man.

This does not happen for girls. Girl toys rarely come from movies, and then only G-rated. The toys for 9-15yr old girls look remarkably like those for younger girls or like plastic versions of 16+ year old interests (jewlry etc). Meaning: girls cannot participate in the cultural transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. The limitations allow little exploration of who a girl can become and deny them super-heroines to look up to in awe. The message in such marketing casts females as lesser than males, and therefore powerless and not responsible for their well being. Consequently, women should not/do not peruse the American Dream but support the someone who is.

We can talk about equality in adult-terms of voting or the workplace or sexuality, but this sexual dimorphism happens before we become aware of its effects on our lives. American culture tells us how American should live, what makes us U.S. To ignore how culture effects children is to be a zombie: ignorant and irresponsible, mindlessly consuming what is given to you. By all means, follow the patriarchal system if that's what you believe. There are biological differences between boys and girls after all. What I want is the equal opportunity for girls to actively participate in their own American Dream.

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*'Good' in the Aristotelian sense of eudaimonia, or living well.

Comics are for Boys

How curious. The Motion Picture Association of America rated The Avengers (2012) as PG-13: Parents are strongly cautioned to give special guidance for attendance of children under 13 – Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. I'm not about to get up in arms about bringing impressionable minds to 'violent' or 'inappropriate' movies; I don't really care about that just yet. What strikes me is targeting (pun, yes) young boys as the ultimate consumer for these movies. Perhaps the random adolescent/young man picks up Hulk Hands or a Iron Man voice modulator, but the bulk of these products go to what looks like 5 - 12 year old white males. Don't you love reinforcing stereotypes? Well, the black kid is in the Ironman suit, but he's on screen for a total of three seconds, 10% of the commercial, most of which his face is blurred.

In addition to The Avengers (minus Hawkeye and Black Widow), Spider-Man, Batman, Transformers, Star Wars, and (the original) G.I. Joe themed products line Targets shelves. Maybe people perceive the PG-13 movies as appropriate for 5 year-olds because they originate from colorful comics, campy TV shows, or just plain nostalgia.

Actual Target Product
Where's the Hunger Games version!? Etsy.

However, if we take analogous movies, TV shows, or other products that were aimed at women, we might be a little apprehensive. Imagine a Twilight themed party where the 8 year old birthday girl wore Black Widow costume while her friends wore clothes from Mean Girls. I bet the Jones' would be whispering. Film 'inspired' girl-oriented toys do not come from the PG-13 rated media, but the PG and G: Disney Princesses and Hello Kitty. If they made a Monster High live-action movie, I bet it would be PG-13 though.

It wouldn't be that hard to market PG-13 movies to young girls. Instead of a generic 'princess' outfit, recreate it from Snow White and the Huntsman. How about a horse figurine with a War Horse logo on it? Maybe a Poo-Pie Playset inspired by The Help- I'd definitely buy that for my cousin! And don't we all want Hunger Games swag and costumes. While we're at it let's make some fake fangs and wolf-hair for the boy Twihards.

The Hunger Games (2012)
These are just the 'pretty' costumes!!

Point is, girls aren't feeble and it's weird that companies market to them as if they were. In reality, girls are more mature than boys and probably could handle the Amazing Spider-Man better than their counterparts. What girl wouldn't want a super-hero boyfriend who had a mode of transportation that avoided traffic? Mary Jane, Pepper Pots, and Jane Foster have their shit together and Black Widow and Katniss Everdeen are badass. Why not market mature movies to girls? They've got just as much if not more sway over Mom and Dad's money than their brothers.


So Target please will you actually put "A Superhero in Every Aisle" and not just the boy's aisles?

Story Ceremony - Passages into Adulthood

The transcendence into adulthood from child occurs in stages during story ceremonies. Groups of children gather together in a darkened room and sit in rows facing a single direction. In the front of this room a projection of a story imparts age-appropriate cultural knowledge. Each story focuses mainly on one of the following: an explanation of an event, a illustration of a value, a definition or distinction of a group’s identity, an explanation of ritual origin or purpose, or as pure entertainment. We can distinguish four distinct age groups from these ‘story ceremonies’: from birth to about the age of seven; seven to thirteen; thirteen to eighteen.



(Birth - 7yrs)
The youngest of children learn from basic stories, although without as much ceremony and ritual found ceremonies for older children. At this level, the rituals functions as an introduction to the ritual process for the child. The stories present themselves in a visually fictional aesthetic, clearly defining this act as separate and more special than reality, and remain simplistic and short. They share basic knowledge or value typical to any society would want to impart: concepts of good and bad, right and wrong, masculine and feminine, etc. In a sense, the ceremony at this age prepares the child for future initiations.  



(7 - 13 years)
More complex ideologies emerge in the seven to thirteen age stories. We see more definitions of group identity and clearer value systems. Themes focus on working together, the importance of self, distinctions of social class, rising above social class, acceptance of an unknown, and exploration of the unknown. These seemingly contradictory values become the base of what we see as distinctly American ideology (discussed later). The imagery for this age group ranges from serenely fantastic to harshly realistic, but usually incorporate an element of realism not found in the younger age group. Through multiple ceremonies, children come to understand how the world around them operates, and how they should operate within it.


(13 - 18 years)
As in most societies, entering into puberty gives individuals access to the most important cultural knowledge. The story ceremonies at this level contain the most variety and mix realism with fantasy and censorship. Arguably, from this level the most potent mythology emerges. For Americans, becoming a ‘young adult’ imparts higher social significance to the story ceremonies and could be called the only initiation ceremony. What previously was an entertaining distraction or topical education transforms into a way to distinguish identity and create personal significance in life. All the purposes for the story ceremony (origins, values, group identity, reasons for rituals, and entertainment) exist in at this level, and the majority of story ceremonies fall into this category. Most notably, the essential archetypes astronauts, cowboys, and zombies become a central focus.

Interestingly, because group and individual identity emerges at the ages of thirteen to eighteen, parents allow their adolescents to participate in the story ceremony without supervision. Younger individuals (13-16) often attend in gender-specific groups in order to align themselves to a certain coterie that extends outside the ceremony complex. It is not entirely known why this factioning occurs, or whether it has a perceived or actual purpose. Older individuals within adolescence (16-18) partially abandon this mode of attending ceremonies and instead opt for cross gender groups or pairing. It is clear that the exploration of possible sexual partners is the cause for this change. 


Couples do not abandon there coteries, however; simply the coterie no longer attends ceremonies together. Two individuals interacting at the ceremony can elevate the two's coteries social standing outside the temple. Possible, the coteries and the couple corroborate an individual’s identity choices, and the attending of ceremonies in turn reinforce the group identity within everyday social interactions. Because of this cyclical, internal feedback system, the content of a coterie’s chosen genre of ceremony deeply impacts their social standing among other, unrelated coteries and therefore the group individuals' potential as socially approved [potential] sexual partners. The ceremony, therefore, determines how outsiders view the coterie and how the coterie view themselves.


(18+)
The final level into adulthood occurs at the age of eighteen. Here the individual's identity becomes of utmost concern. Society at this time does not necessarily recognize the individual as an adult, but rather recognizes the individual’s ability to form a unique identity. Ceremonies at this level often explore the darkest themes and utilize the most realism compared the the younger ceremonies. Although individuals rarely go to story ceremonies alone, the social significance dramatically decreases at this level from previous ages. Instead the ceremony takes on either a introspective role or initiates a small dialogue among a group or pair. From the experience, individuals can better understand who they are or who they want to be. 


Note:
Although story ceremonies have age ristrictions, individuals may enter story ceremonies of a younger class if they so choose and various reasons exist to do so. For example: Revisiting childhood can reconnect the individual to essential values they may have forgotten. Or: A reinterpretation of an old story allows a old myth to fit within present ideologies while preserving a sense of history allows the individual to reconnect to the past. Allowing elders to participate in younger ceremonies also reinforce the validity and value of the stories to the society.