I read Paris's post "Erasing Identity" last week, and I find myself thinking about it often. The creepiness of the commercial really got to me, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how ironic it is for me to think it's creepy.
My best friend came over the other day and the first thing she said to me was, "Damn! Have you been tanning? You look HOT!" I told her that though I did lay out over the 4th of July weekend, I had been using Jergens Natural Glow lotion for the past week or two. You know, so I can get tan and avoid the sun's harmful rays. She instantly asked if we could go across the street to the store so she could get some. So, while thinking lotion that makes skin whiter was creepy and unnatural, I was slathering chemicals on my own body to make me darker. Because tan is beautiful...right? The irony and hypocrisy of this was astounding to me, but I still can shake my feelings. I still think that when I'm tan I look thinner and healthier, and when I'm not, I look sickly and frumpy. I always assumed that this was a fairly universal view( I did know that pale in previous times was a status symbol, as pale skinned people were assumed to be in the non-working upper classes), but reading Paris's post really opened my eyes.
In her post, Paris states that, "The product has made the person’s identity disposable! No longer is the product something you can use up and go through, but rather a way to erase you." So is my Jergen's product doing the same thing? According to her post, it must be, but I don't feel erased, rather I feel more noticeable, more attractive. Can I rationalize it by saying that I'm getting a "beautiful and natural glow" (according to the Jergen's website) that I could get from the sun, though I chose a more artificial route? This may be in contrast to the whitening cream, as it produces a result that could not be attained "naturally." But still, this doesn't feel very assuring.
So where does this lead? Make-up, hair color, nail polish all unnaturally change a person's appearance, but do they really modify a person's identity? Perhaps, as people identify blondes, brunettes, redheads, etc, as different groups, but I would hope that I would be the same inside no matter what my hair color. Although, it is true that people respond to blondes differently than redheads, and brunettes differently than say, someone with hot pink hair. So perhaps these types of things can change your identity as it is perceived from outside, and affect your confidence level, but I still think that only you can change your identity and that no one can take it away from you.
This complicates the idea of identity. To be honest, as I wrote this, the idea of identity became more and more elusive to me. I think that I have decided that, to me, my identity is my own personal view of myself and the things that make me me. Like the fact that I love Lucky Charms and hate getting my feet dirty, and that I like leopard print and that I worry way too much, but everyone thinks I'm chill (well, maybe not in our class). That is who I am, that is my identity, and no tanning product can change, modify, or erase that.
4 comments:
Hm, I like this post.
It challenges the line of identity a step further.
I like that you challenge this idea. Bleach may "erase" your genetic skin color but isn't putting tanning lotion ontop of your skin to discolor it the same thing. Very thought provoking.
I like you post, because like a good movie, needs to settle in.
This is a great sentence: " To be honest, as I wrote this, the idea of identity became more and more elusive to me." This is what all good writing should result in: more uncertainty about the world! Because that means that you are *thinking*.
On the other hand, the following sentence distresses me: "I think that I have decided that, to me, my identity is my own personal view of myself and the things that make me me." This sentence seems full of tautologies and circular logic. If ‘you’ have decided something, it is obviously 'to you'—and likewise ‘your’ "personal view" is clearly ‘your’ "own," isn't it? And what is it, really, to have a view of *oneself*? Is this even, really, possible? Sure, in a mirror it is; but otherwise, can you 'view' yourself? I think not, and for good reason: this makes perspective an important matter. To truly consider another person's perspective, this requires an impossible but worthwhile attempt at seeing outside of oneself. And what if we didn’t ‘decide’ about these complicated matters, but simply spent our time letting difficult ideas *be* “elusive,” as you say? I think this makes for more thoughtful—if less certain—writing.
You are delving into heavily contoured philosophical terrain in this post, and I am glad to see this. But instead of trying to get an overview of the topography, why not linger on the graspable details of the landscape, however perplexing they might be?
I have the same lotion!
But anyway, I like your post a lot. It is quite interesting that most of us use different products to "identify" ourselves. I have a huge collection of makeup, hair products, nail polish, etc. I thought having many of those things would present my identity pretty well, but they don't. Instead, I sometimes feel that even the people in my inner circle do not understand who I really am nor want I really stand for.
Also, I just want to point out that people would stay indoor as much as possible in Asia because having darker skin means you belong in the lower class. Therefore, people would bleach their skins, just to make themselves feel classier. When I went back to my house couple weekends ago, my family would ask me why I got a tan (because they still believe that tanned skin is for lower class, not me).
I guess people should forget how fancy the gift wrap is and just look inside of the package.
I really liked this post because I have also wondered about the relation of personal appearance to identity.
I also think that status, when ascribed to skin color, is incredibly interesting as skin color can often vary greatly within a family. I tan quite easily and have a medium complexion, while my sister is quite fair. Thinking about status makes me wonder how we would have been viewed in another time period or in another country. She would probably have been perceived as quite beautiful (she is now as well); would I have been looked down upon for my complexion even though I belonged to the same family?
I also think that sometimes people's perceptions of themselves don't match with their outsides, in which case it may make sense for them to make themselves more like how they feel they were meant to be (i.e. coloring hair, wearing make-up, having a sex-change operation, etc.). I also don't think that having an outside view of oneself is necessarily imperative to the formation of identity (I'd like you to explain this further, Chris); I think that the basis of identity is what comes from within you.
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