Carmina, Curran and Tony Ponder Identity
“Prosperity derives from exploitation.” William Wordsworth
“Habit rules the unreflecting herd.” William Wordsworth
It was lunchtime at the Supreme Bean and Carmina had arrived early. From a table near the front window she watched the promenade of office workers on the other side of the glass. Tagged like dogs, their laminated photo ID’s dangling from their belts and necks, they all seemed so purposeful as if they were going somewhere important, even if it was only back to their cubes.
The spectacle amused and saddened her. She wondered how many dreams they had forgotten, misplaced or denied? What gave their live’s meaning? She couldn’t understand why so many people willingly endured 9 to 5 employment in exchange for a hollow promise of job security? There was no such thing as job security—she knew that from her own experiences as a process server, freight handler for FedEx and the18 months she had spent with Merry Maid home cleaning services. Work should mean something—be an expression of who and what you really are, she thought.
Carmina was an artist. Art was her calling and something she accepted with grace and gratitude. Each morning she arose excited by what she might discover in her work that day—eager to create. Of course, she had bad days. From time-to-time she had to teach workshops or take on commissions to get by. But in the main painting was her love and it provided a living. It was her gift to the world.
“How’s my favorite painter today? Tony asked.
“Fine,” Carmina replied, still gazing out the window.
Tony didn’t think so. “Carmina, something is bothering you. What is it?” he asked.
“You know me Tony. I try not to judge people. But some days I wonder. I mean you and me, we’re artists, we make things. We believe in self-expression and creativity. We believe in being who and what we really are. But out there I see so many folks choosing, or forced, to be a thing, an identity—something other people will recognize and approve. At work they wear their ID tags, suits and ‘office casual’ and during off hours they wear their lifestyle—some pastiche of symbols and dress intended to say ‘this is really me,’” she said.
Bare Pixie © Michael Maurer Smith 2008
“That seems a depressing, even a condescending view,” said Tony. “However, your mention of tattoos brings up something I’ve observed. It seems like everyone these days either has or is getting a tattoo—you got grandmas with little pixies on their shoulders, young women with flowery designs strategically positioned above their derrieres, and athletes festooned with so many markings they look more like parolees than pros. Of course some of them are both. And now that Michael Jackson has died I suppose millions of people will be getting Thriller tats. I’m amazed that so many people are willing to pay to be the canvas for someone else’s art!”
Tony noticed that Curran Rule had arrived and was heading to the table. “Well, well, look who’s here! I’ll bet you’ll have something to add to our little discussion,” Tony said.
“I hope life’s being good to y’all. So what’s the topic d’jour? Curran asked.
“Branding,” said Tony. “Carmina and I have been speculating about the tagged nine-to-fivers parading around out there and the popularity of tattoos—we’ve been talking about how people identify themselves.”
“Ah,” said Curran. “Branding—the cornerstone of American life—the old image and identity thing—my bread and butter.”
“You know, we designers make a distinction between image and the identity. Identity is all that stuff you can control, like colors, composition, typography and logos—like tattoos, jewelry and clothes. But image, well that’s everything the company or person does. It’s behavior. Brand is the whole package. It’s the identity and the image together. The fact is, today, everyone is a brand. I don’t know if that’s good or bad but it’s true. We’re all brands now—or a mix of brands and we all sorta fake it to make it. Am I not right?”
“I suppose you’re right,” said Carmina. “But I wish you weren’t. I suppose we have little choice. I suppose we must play many of the roles that are expected of us and we must identify ourselves as members of the right herds if we want to be recognized, loved and validated or even left alone.”
“Sad but true. And I think that’s why most people get tattoos, so they can be identifed with specific herds—so they can always have with them a marker of their own existence—a reminder of who and what they imagine themselves to be, or want to be and who and what they want other people to think they are—their personal brand. And sometimes its an epitaph they wear while still living, a commemoration of who or what they once were,” said Tony.
“What’s truly sad,” said Carmina, “is that most of this branding isn’t the artistic creation of the person wearing it. It’s someone else’s interpretation and expression, an embodiment of someone else’s values and thought.
For the next few minutes no one said anything. Curran, Carmina and Tony sat watching as more office workers walked by. Finally Tony spoke, “see you two next week?” Carmina and Curran nodded in the affirmative.
© Michael Maurer Smith 2009
Welcome back, Tony and Carmina! Interesting post, this branding/identity discussion. Something we’ve been talking about a lot lately. I love the vision of the people with their laminated tags… even those of us who don’t have laminated tags look like we are wearing them underneath!
I read and re-read this, and every time I read it I was a little more uncomfortable. I couldn’t figure our what was bothering me.
This time, it almost jumped off the page. It’s Carmina’s statement:
“I suppose we have little choice. I suppose we must play many of the roles that are expected of us and we must identify ourselves as members of the right herds if we want to be recognized, loved and validated or even left alone…”
The best response I can think of actually was written by J.R.L. Anderson, in his epilogue to Sir Frances Chichester’s book, “Gypsy Moth Circles the World”. Reflecting on the meaning of Sir Frances’ circumnavigation, Anderson says,
“The essential Chichester achievement is something more deeply personal – and personal not alone to him, but embedded in the hearts of every one of us. He has succeeded in making dreams come true; his own private dreams, and the dreams that most men have from time to time as they are on that ‘long fool’s journey to the grave’. For 99.9% of humanity, dreams remain locked up in the secret compartments of the soul. Not for Chichester. For him, to dream is to determine, and to determine, to achieve.”
“People will say, ‘Oh, yes, but he has been lucky. He has made money, he has found rich backers. He does not have to travel daily on the 8:15.’ But surely this is part of the achievement! No one HAS to travel daily on the 8:15!”
I heard an exchange on radio yesterday that made this piece come alive. Sean Hannity was doing a man-in-the-street bit, and got into a discussion with a 25 year old black man who’s a “stylist” – that is, he helps people make sure they’re “swagged” properly. (Swag: apperance ,style ,or the way a person presents themselves. e.g. “He got a killa swag.”
The young man was tattoed, pierced and wearing all the right clothes , and he took on Hannity, who was trying to make him feel badly for not knowing the name of our nation’s VP.
The young man was having none of it – as he said (paraphrasing, of course), “Don’t make no difference to me who’s VP – you may know the VP but you ain’t swagged out!”
I wish I had a transcript or could find the archive. What it boiled down to was the young man telling Hannity, “I know who I am and I show off my identity every day. Who you?” By the time it was over, I was buying the killa’ swagged dude’s brand
I thought about this post while I was listenting to the conversation and came back to re-read with a new appreciation for the point you’re making. Amazing coincidence.