Impressions and Masks

In Kuleshov’s Film Effect, it is said that the dramatic effect of a film is found not in the content of its shots but rather in the edits that assemble them together, making a film great. Sociology shares the very same concept, the existence of men means and represents very little, what truly influences and impacts the society is the series of identities and the roles that they play in that make humanity shine, thus evolving the society as a whole.

When asked what created the society, people would assume that the language is the answer, because it interconnects the world. But communication itself is too limited by the perspective, there is no profound thought without the existence of expressions, and that is why the variations of identities, impressions, and front-back stage management exist.

Based on self-categorization theory, it suggests that self is reflexive in that a person can categorize, classify, or name himself in different, unique ways in relation to other social classifications (Hogg & Abrams). In everyday life, a person is to wear various masks to disguise him/her true self in order to become a member of a specific social category, a category that holds common interests or same social identification. In another way of saying it, a person must become someone like others in order to enable communication. From my understandings of the recent classwork, forming identities is essential to shape the outcomes of one’s own life, take the life experience of myself for example, the moment I wake up on my bed, I am a family member, by perfecting this role, I am to obey the rules formulated by other members of this social group in order to please them and myself; While in a classroom, I am no longer a family member but a pupil among many others, by only playing this specific role, I am able to learn the knowledge spoken and written by those who possess more wisdom, thus completing my task as a student, providing myself a potentially brighter future; Outside the classroom, in the workplace, the mask I have to put on to transform myself into a student is taken off, and replaced by the name of “employee”. This role is, however, similar to others, but it has its own uniqueness, I am not only required to follow rules and regulations, but also asked to complete the daily tasks related to what I do as an employee, because by doing so, I could accomplish my goal, get paid. However, there is one place that one can truly take off all the masks, thus getting rid of all the disguises, that place is their own private space, it is a place where one can act as a true self without facing consequences. But other than that, everything else is structured and disciplined, one thing that is unmodifiable in this society is that the daily life of a normal person is and must be consumed by the invisible masks, because acting as a certain character under a given circumstance is important, and so one can be labeled as an “in-group” individual, and those who do the opposite and tend to differ from social groups are categorized into “out-group”. The “in-group” individuals place themselves in the middle of the crowd where they become a part of this well-structured society, thus they possess the possible outcome to enhancing themselves and improving their lives to have more prestige and status because of the connections they could potentially acquire. Those “out-group” individuals refuse to perform different identities can be easily left out by social groups, resulting in isolation, which could lead to no advantage in life, creating a not-so-bright future. For example, a job loss is a result of becoming an “out-group” individual, from the lectures taught in class, that this phenomenon occurs because the person fails to examine the importance of social communication, ignoring the social forces and events happening around him. In short, whether one likes it or not, wearing masks is necessary and essential to ensure his/her survival in this vast, complicated civilization, and one must understand that social categories precede value of a single individual, just like what C. Wright Mills conveys that one must acquire sociological perspectives because it gives “ability to see the societal patterns that influence individual and group life” (C. Wright Mills).

Knowing the importance of social classifications and its purposes is critical to every individual. However, a simple mask without a delicate emotion leaves no impression, and that is where impression management comes in. Based on Aristotle’s philosophy of language, the theory suggests that the language connects to the reality, it is used to control what others think of us as in the result of leaving a specific impression (Aristotle). Later on, during the Renaissance, Shakespeare shares his profound sociological phrase such is that the world is a stage and those who live on it are merely actors and players(Shakespeare). The idea is simple and straightforward, it means that men and women must take on certain roles, but in order to impress the audience in front of them, they are obliged to act and speak in a specific way that they are able to impress others. In recently years, the well-known sociologist Erving Goffman speaks the same words as Shakespeare, in his book “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life”, he uses the metaphor of drama to set the standards that one looks at the social encounters as a performance in order to establish the reality(Goffman), therefore deliberately leaving others a certain message. For example, entrepreneurs who fight in the financial and business industry use clever words and all sorts of actions to control and influence what others think of them, they create a perfect image in which displays their trustworthiness and the knowledge that they have. This very process is called “projecting an image”, or say creating an identity for others to perceive. Another example based on my personal experience, I worked in a buffet as a server during the summer, like every other restaurant waiter, my obligation was to satisfy the customers who walked into that very place. In most cases, in order to please the customers, my work consisted on highly polite manners. For a person who does not like to smile a lot, I had to reset the standards and gave everyone who sat on the dining tables a warm smile, even to those who spared no respect. Some rare cases my actions and words must involve unusual compliments to make customers feel better. The purpose of a waiter is to serve with grace, hence I must give the best impression – front stage - to others in order to promote the restaurant and myself during the process. The exact same stage management works on job interviews as well, the interviewee is to self-promote and display the best of himself, and by achieving so, talking about the personal accomplishments, qualifications and the backgrounds are essential so that interviewer could see the competency in the interviewee, thus offering him the job that he desires. In conclusion, the front stage impression management is central to social interactions. There is also a backstage management, and it only exists in the private space, but it is not only a place where one can just throw away all the masks used in outside world but also a place where a person can truly work on the impression management calmly without disturbance and interruptions. People are able to put on make ups, try different outfits, or set a certain tone in the backstage so that they can look and display the way they desire when they walk into the society. Therefore, the function of backstage management is more of a foundation to all social interactions. With the impression managements, we could see the world in different colors and emotions, but in combination with social identities, we are able observe the society like a kaleidoscope with layers of dimensions.

Stephen Fry, a famous actor and comedian once said that “a true thing, badly expressed, is a lie”, the point being that is there is no content without forms, the very same applies to sociological theory like the essay previously mentioned, that a person who does not learn how to manage their social masks and the impressions simply is not worth a purpose, like a movie without motivation, however profound the visual looks and music sounds, it values no more than a reel of roll film. Therefore, one must learn the “social role as the enactment of rights and duties” (Goffman, 124), and by only doing so can one person understand the society, thus gaining focus of life, and beware, it is very critical to memorize those words because if we are truly actors living inside a movie, the least we can do is to try to make this movie worth Oscars.

Work Cited

Aristotle. “Philosophy of Language”.

C. Wright Mills quotes, “ability to see the societal patterns that influence individual and group life”.

Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor, 2008. Print.

Hogg & Abrams. “Theory of Self-categorization”. (1988).

Kuleshove, Lev. “Kuleshov Effect”. The Art of Film. (1920)

Stephen Fry quotes, “a true thing, badly expressed, is a lie”.