This blogspot is for my Anthropology 305 class about the anthropology of the body. The goal is to collect images to critique in relation to quotations from the course text.

The Looking Glass


The young man stepped into the hall of mirrors
Where he discovered a reflection of himself
Even the greatest stars discover themselves in the looking glass
Even the greatest stars discover themselves in the looking glass
Sometimes he saw his real face
And sometimes a stranger at his place
Even the greatest stars find their face in the looking glass
Even the greatest stars find their face in the looking glass
He fell in love with the image of himself
and suddenly the picture was distorted
Even the greatest stars dislike themselves in the looking glass
Even the greatest stars dislike themselves in the looking glass
He made up the person he wanted to be
And changed into a new personality
Even the greatest stars change themselves in the looking glass
Even the greatest stars change themselves in the looking glass
The artist is living in the mirror
With the echoes of himself
Even the greatest stars live their lives in the looking glass
Even the greatest stars live their lives in the looking glass
Even the greatest stars fix their face in the looking glass
Even the greatest stars fix their face in the looking glass
Even the greatest stars live their lives in the looking glass
Even the greatest stars live their lives in the looking glass
- kraftwerk, hall of mirrors

The True Self, p. 42 (Carl Elliott, 2003)
"Technology has become a way for some people to build or reinforce their sense of dignity while standing in front of the social mirror. The mirror is critically important for identity; it is rare for anyone in a democratic society to be completely unaware of it. Most of us can keenly identify with the shame that a person feels when society reflects back to them an image that is degrading or humiliating. But the flip side to shame is vanity. It is also possible to become obsessed with the mirror, to spend hours in front of it, preening and posing, flexing your deltoids, admiring your hair. It is possible to spend so much time in front of the mirror that you lose any sense of who you are apart from the reflection that you see."

p. 46
"Body modification is one way of coping with the social mirror: adjusting yourself in front of it until the mirror tells you that you look okay."

As Carl Elliott says, society shows us how we are seen. In the images at left, a black woman looks into the mirror and sees something ugly (reminiscent of just a few sentences before this Elliott quote, as seen in the section Racism in Surgery and Performance), and an anorexic girl looks in the mirror and sees herself as fat. The mirror that these women are looking into is that of popular culture -- institutionalized racism, media images depicting beautiful women as underweight, and so on. However, as we saw in the Fanta Girls film and in the prevalence of eating disorders, these reflections can be evaded.

What is the difference between these evasions and changing one's sex, however? On the one hand, a person is seeking to destroy that which society tells them is wrong. They are caught up in a struggle against a mirror that they should ignore. On the other hand, a person is seeking to become their own mirror, to create an image that will reflect their "true selves."

The song by Kraftwerk posted above simply serves as a lyrical example of how we all, indeed, even the greatest of us, are susceptible to discover, find, dislike, change, and fix ourselves in the looking glass. We can all get stuck living our lives in the looking glass, constantly attempting to make society reflect back something it deems good.


Image Sources:

http://www.nathanielturner.com/carriemaeweems.htm

http://mccondog.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-03-16T08%3A56%3A00-07%3A00

http://frazer.rice.edu/~erkan/blog/archives/002348.html

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