We are different roles but still the same

Identity formation is not just thinking about oneself, but also about external factors that shape who we are. For that reason, media, fads, and peoples’ opinion (friends, family, classmates, etc.) influence what we do and the way we behave. As a result, we can be a different person in different groups of people, which leads to the main question of this entry: Who are we?

According to the Human Project, 2012

13.7 billion years ago, we were crammed into a single point.

10 billion years ago, we were stars exploding into existence.

3 billion years ago, we were bacteria, we were alive.

550 million years ago, we were flat worms without hearts and brains.

400 million years ago, we were fish, we had jaws

50 million years ago, we were gray apes; we had arms, legs, and bigger brains.

5 million years ago, we were humans, we had voice boxes.

100 thousand years ago, we could talk, but could not ask this question… (who are we?)

1,000 years ago, we were all God’s creation. Accept the guy next door was hideous.

200 years ago, we were British, French, American, Indian, Chinese.

100 years ago, we had proof we were one species descended from apes. Few of us were pleased.

60 years ago, we declared were all human entitled to the same human rights.

10 years ago, we started saying we are global citizens.

                                                Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26jKx74Wc5M

From this idea we get that changing is a rather natural thing, we have done it for a long time, and probably we will continue to do so whether at the global level, as human race, or at the individual level.

In the following video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q93iL-HSiNc, different questions are asked about identity, and from that, we start wondering what our true identity is. In this last video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0HEdbliaEM, we see how our identity changes in different contexts as well as how we are forced to so (by the hand). However, in all those situations we are still the same; we might be playing a different role, but we are still ourselves. So maybe, instead of having just one role in society, we have a lot of them, and we, simply, are all of those roles.

As we have studied in class and as Bakhtin (1968) poses “The feast (every feast) is an important primary form of human culture.” In this sense, carnivals provide people with a new opportunity to adapt a new identity and, actually, be free, not just from social conventions but also from inner restrictions or limitations. In that way, carnivals are the second life of people. But, that does not necessarily mean that we completely lose our identity. During the carnival or party we still are ourselves, or at least the part of ourselves that somehow we have neglected because of what is politically correct or for what is socially expected of ourselves.  In the play we recently read, Twelfth Night, or What You Will, we see how all the characters play different roles/masks, but we still are able to spot who they are, and in real life it may occur the same thing. Even if people were masks or play different roles, by paying close attention to how they are and to the way they behave we will somehow know what is the role they are playing, whether the fool, phony character, or “honest” one.