Lecture Three: Identity

In this lecture we looked at the historical and modern conceptions of identity, particularly in the digital domain. We started off by looking at the three phases of identity; pre-modern identity; modern identity; post-modern identity. Pre-modern identity was stable and defined by a persons long standing role, e.g. marriage, the government, work, etc. Modern identity began to offer a wider range of social roles and presented the possibility of choosing your own identity. Post-modern identity accepts a 'fragmented self' and the idea that identity is constructed rather than inherited.

We also looked into essentialism, which is the theory that it is our biological make-up that makes us who we are. Physiognomy fits into this theory, as it is the assessment of a person's personality or character based on their appearance, predominantly the face. This practice was revived by Lavater in 1755, who proposed that physiognomy was related to specific characters and it was later theorised by Cesar Lambroso in 1835 until 1909. Lambroso proposed the idea of positivist or anthropological criminology, which proposes the notion that criminal tendencies can be inherited, and that these 'born criminals' can be identified by physical characteristics.

The post-modern identity relates significantly to stereotyping and a good example of this is Tracey Emin's piece Everyone I have Ever Slept With (1963-1995), in which she created a tent in which she had all the names of everyone she had ever slept with. However, these people weren't just lovers, a lot of them were family members and friends and not sexual partners at all. Despite this, people naturally assumed that Emin had very loose sexual morals without having any information of who she was.

This can also be seen in animation, particularly in character designs. Characters are often created to fit stereotypes to help portray their personality and identity, for example Ed, Edd and Eddy. The character's identities are very easily distinguishable, for instance, Eddy is portrayed as a 'dumb' character, which is portrayed through his over-sized body and slightly 'dopey' looking facial characteristics. Whereas, Ed appears a lot less 'dumb' then Eddy, which is easy to establish through his larger head and less 'dopey' looking features.

Ed, Edd and Eddy