14.05.2008
May 10, 2008 (the date of publication in Russian)
Marine Voskanyan
THE SUBSTITUTE OF FULFILLMENT
The drama of a Western Philistine: Craving for the image ruins the personality
THE MASKS OF VOID
The epoch of today is celebrated as the triumph of individualism. It is true that nowadays, as never before, a man has got a possibility of an independent choice of a way of life, and this choice is becoming less and less dependent on traditional public institutions and ideology and more and more – on individual purposes and tastes. Still, the contemporary individualist is quite different from his predecessor, impregnated in the European literary and philosophic thought of the epoch of modern: an intellectual of that time comprised a unique personality, with a unique idea of himself and his role in the world. This "man of yesterday" could be a fighter for liberty or belief, a romantic hero, a Nietzschean-type nihilistic atheist, a desperate hermit or on the contrary, a passionate leader inspiring his associates for a great endeavor. In any case, he was something particular. If he gave up his views, this happened due to a shift of values resulting from an inner development. An intellectual of today differs from him as much as the cover of a glossy magazine differs from a painting of Rembrandt.
Today's individualism represents an effort to fill the internal vacuum soul with various combination of a hobby, a lifestyle, a "search for oneself", individual consumption and, necessarily, "image-building". Anyone who is proud of having a personal taste in any matter, of being reluctant to "fall into line" and to be similar to others, calls himself an individualist. But what are the foundations of this – convictions, clear understanding of oneself and the external world, or any purposes beyond income and household. All this is untypical, and moreover, regarded as unnecessary. In his essay "Capitalism, Modernism, and Postmodernism" Terry Eagleton states: "Yearning for an authentic existence is not rejected but rather forgotten, along with the definition of authenticity".
A personal identity is today understood as something superficial – an image of oneself, irradiated outwards, and easily replaceable. An ordinary citizen of a megapolis is supposed to have a whole array of images in his kit. At daytime, dressed in a business suit, he prefers to be a part of business culture; in the evening, he drives to a club where he wishes to impress others with his peculiarity of style – a fancy handy or dark glasses, like the character of his favorite thriller; for a weekend, he keeps an outdoor apparel with cozy coarse shoes and a rainproof jacket that likens him to a cowboy from the "Marlboro Land" or a Marine. But despite his business suit, he is not really so fascinated with business as Dreiser's Financist. Despite his nobby dark glasses, he does not perform as a mafioso or even as a relevant Hollywood sub. At his weekend, he does not spend hours walking across a rugged terrain and does not sleep in a forest where his outfit could be of real use.
All this is nothing but pictures without any essential content. The content is achieved only by drawing those pictures on the canvas of oneself. This drawing is as distant from reality as the "military" style is from adherence to military order or the "pacific" on a T-shirt from fight for the liberty of people. All these images are not taken seriously, but at the same time, they don't express irony. This is just a calm, idle indifference, blended with relaxation that is not ruffled with universal despair or mundane grief. Thus, the intellectual of today can be at the same time a cosmopolitan, a patriot of a particular minority, a pragmatic at work and an adherent of occult practice at leisure. He does not need to test his craving for self-consistence, while recognition of inconsistency is never tragic.
Giles Lipovetsky, the author of "The Era of Void", one of the most profound studies of contemporary individualism, characterizes the human being of today as follows: "He is neither a Nieztschean pessimistic decadent nor an oppressed Marxist proletarian: he rather reminds a TV spectator trying to watch all the evening TV programs one after another, a shopper filling his basket; a vacationer choosing between a Spanish beach and a Corsican mocamp. The golden age of individualism that generated competition in economy, passion in private life, and revolution in policy and arts, is gone. The contemporary individualist is much more concentrated on his lifestyle than on the possibility to influence the world around him.
A COWBOY WISHING TO LOOK LIKE A COWBOY
The definition of lifestyle has become an indispensable element of the contemporary cultural landscape. At the first glance, it might seem that lifestyle is just another word for the way of life of a particular person, his behavior, habits, and manners. The difference is becoming clear if you compare what is defined an "urban way of life" and an "urban lifestyle". In the first case, you mean anything that distinguishes a common inhabitant of a town from a resident of a rural area – an apartment instead of a house with a piece of land; necessity to spend much time to get from home to work; availability of trade and entertainment. "Urban lifestyle" suggests a special manner an "urban personality" follows in his garb, a special style of music he likes, a special kind of cafes he attends and special habits in dealing with friends.
A lifestyle is a combination of some superficial markers or signs that the contemporary human being addresses to the surrounding world in order to achieve a definition of himself in the eyes of others, by demonstrating certain features that the others should notice. In fact, that is a one-man show. In a typical Moscow office with an obviously liberal dress code, I saw a young lady with jackboots of coarse leather. This detail of appearance that would look perfect in a movie about "Pirates of the Caribbean", looked somewhat odd on the background of folders of documents and buzzing PCs. It was even depressing to think that the owner of these boots is facing a life with usual office routine and not traveling and treasure-hunting. However, the lady herself was not anxious about that, as she was supposed not to be and not even to seem but just to "look like".
In the past times, the array of signs demonstrated by a human with his clothes and appearance was determined with a particular social status, profession, and conditions of life. A military uniform was worn by soldiers and not by fans of "military" fashion. The "safari" style was used by travelers to Africa where it was most convenient. The hat protected its owner from sun and sand while pockets were needed for keeping something in them and not for any other purpose. Today, when you see a man with a hat on, the first question you ask yourself is "what does he mean with his hat" – an erratic, a lover of country music, a fan of Clint Eastwood, or just a guy wishing to differ from other guys. The idea that the hat is just headwear would be the last idea to enter your brain.
"Even when you see a person with a cowboy hat in Texas today, you think he is a cowboy who wishes to look like a cowboy", writes British author Mike Bywater in his essay "Big Babies, or Why Can't We Just Grow Up?". A human of today is too accustomed to the assumption that every detail of his appearance is needed, first of all, for telling others something about him, and only in the second turn, for a real purpose.
This custom emerges not least from the abovementioned urban way of life. It is in the crowd where one needs to differ from the rest to be noticed. "Speaking" features are of higher demand in the realm of anonymity – in big cities where you often meet strangers and where your appearance serves as the most efficient way of telling something about yourself – something that is important only here and now. Tomorrow, you can pull on a mask of someone else.
PILOT WATCHES AND SWISS KNIVES
The search for a lifestyle is gradually becoming more essential than the life as such. A person is getting obsessed with questions like: does my image fit into the model of my handy? – my car? –
my jeans? – my bag? The individualist of the past century would dictate to his belongings what they should be to correspond with his inner world and character. His belongings would bear the traces of his identity. Until today, we curiously study cigar cases, pads, pens and inkpots of historical personalities. Though each of these things had its own producer and brand, these objects reflected –but not determined – the life of their owner. Today, everything is opposite. In a consumer society, you are what you consume. Belongings are responsible for the whole kaleidoscope of pseudo-images that the contemporary human cultivates, they make him somewhat and somebody. This is true not only for prestigious pieces of luxury, as the image of wealth is only one of the many.
The above quoted book of Mike Bywater contains a good example of an item used for creating a pseudo-image – namely, a pilot watch. At the dawn of the aviation era, this kind of a watch was really essential for a pilot, enabling him to orientate and to estimate the reserve of fuel. In a vehicle where one had to count only upon himself, this watch was a working tool. With emergence of a display board, satellite navigation and an autopilot, this necessity was gone.
Still, the pilot watch has not disappeared: on the contrary, it became an object of prestige. Producers cultivate the aviation image of the toy, selling it to most famous air force units, using them as pieces of imagery for conquerors of air space, especially when the pilot, in his other capacity, is a movie star.
Most frequently, pilot watches are purchased not by pilots but by those who wish to look like them – not as real pilots but as certain abstract compilation such kind of a watch fits into. This abstract personality is certainly supposed to play risky games and win, like James Bond and Superman, and if you have got such a watch, you acquire at least a piece of the image.
"What qualities does a real pilot have to possess?" inquires Mike Bywater. "First of all, concentration, accuracy, and recollection. A real pilot has to monitor the equipment, to be able to test all the systems of the aircraft, and to beware weather conditions. In case of slightest trouble, he is obliged not to display the properties of the character of a thriller, but to avoid the risks for the passengers and the aircraft by any means. But does anybody pull on a pilot watch to seem accurate, concentrated, and concerned of avoiding risks?
In fact, the person who purchases a pilot watch is actually purchasing not the image of a pilot but a pseudo-image of a stern and resolute hero who exists rather on a billboard than in real life. He does not bother to learn to become a pilot: that is too tiresome and responsible, and maybe he'll not even need the watch. It requires a far smaller effort to display an item supposedly belonging to the hero's requisite.
One more object with a similar function is a Swiss penknife, with an array of blades ranging from a needle to a can-opener, supposed to characterize its owner as a pragmatic personality counting upon himself and being prepared for any surprises including debarkation on a deserted island. However, such a kind of force majeure happens unexpectedly. Meanwhile, in the real world, the owner of the penknife won't be able to travel anywhere with his "friend". He’ll not be permitted to carry the knife into the cabin of a plane, into a supermarket or any other place with a metal detector.
In fact, he will use it at home or at a barbecue. If he even occasionally uses it in the street to protect himself, the police will rather think him to be the offender and not the victim. All these considerations are obvious, but still, possession of the useless toy warms the soul of the owner with the illusion of being "well equipped" for any adventure or danger.
One of the most popular watchwords of today is "Be yourself!" But in order to be oneself, one should know who he really is and not who he seems to be or would like to seem to be. By pulling on images of others, the contemporary individualist acquires what he dislikes most of all – "falling into a line", or becoming an element of a faceless crowd of similar mediocre beings, each "looking for himself" in the effort to imitate real or fake heroes.
Sale of images, suitable for support or replacement of a feeble identity, is the main occupation of today's marketing technologies. You are not supposed to buy a bed for sleeping, a knife for cutting, and a watch for checking time. You are supposed to acquire something to fit into a particular lifestyle. But how can you choose a style of life if you are unaware of yourself and your needs, typically for an ordinary man in the consumer society?
For this purpose, there is another invention – namely, the cult of notabilities.
(To be continued)
Number of shows: 1173
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