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September 29, 2005
mimesis or social construction
I think that the wolrd around us is created by mimesis in a lot of ways. We use our language, our sights, what we know about the world, what surrounds us, etc. to create our own world. But we don't create this language, these ideas, sights, surroundings ourselves. Society and people from generations ago create this and we are merely imitating them. As others have mentioned, the items that are stereotypical of people with money (such as purses, clothes, cars, watches, jewerly) are imitated by people everyday. We need to have this certain car because so and so has it, or we need to have these clothes because it is what's in style. This is how we create ourselves, by imitation. I'm not saying that everyone imitates one thing and everyone is the same person. There are so many things to imitate in the world, it could be one person imitating a certain thing, or it could be 500,000 people. Everyone wants to fit in to something and I think to do this you need to imitate ways that you agree with and like and go from there.
It's not just clothes or items that can be imitated. There are also words and signs as well. I know many people that in their group of friends have certain words that are used so often and that is apart of who they are. They might have heard this wrod from a celebrity or an older brother or sister and now they are imitating it.
Posted by lcisnelson at September 29, 2005 03:54 PM
Comments
Rachelll-
Its interesting what you said about people copying words because they heard a celebrity or other role model using it. I babysit alot and find this is very true, that when a 5-year old hears her 10 year-old sister saying a word, (like in Rhode Island we say "wicked"!) she will start saying it. However, once the 10-year old hears her little sister using the word, she will drop it immediately.
I think this is an interesting concept, that mimesis often results in the end of a certain concept or word for another group. It's just like an essay I once read (and I really wish that I could remember where, because it was a fabulous essay!), which said something to the effect of once the 12-year old boys see their 7-year old brothers hoarding Pokemon cards, they deny any interest!!
-Brenna D.
Posted by: Brenna at October 1, 2005 06:05 PM