Identity is a subconscious act, which influences our lives everyday whether it’s our self-identity or others. People of all cultures have modified their bodies within the limits of what their society deems acceptable directly impacting how we identify them. But people have always fought these limits and tried to go beyond them. (Morawetz, 2001, pxi) Here I explore three different aspects of identity: can our individual identity be threatened; how do we identify people who modify their bodies and what if identity isn’t an aesthetical feature - does this impact on how we perceive ourselves?

 

Threats against our identity, We Will Rock You (Elton, 2012).

 

Identity is manipulated, influenced and sculpted from the cultural context you are within; your gender alongside others’ perceptions of you are key factors to constructing your identity. Showing your identity and sense of self-awareness is something we all do continuously, expressed through changing our image (body modification) challenging others’ opinions on identification. Body modification described by Don Ed Hardy (a influential practitioner of tattooing) states;

 

It’s mainly to prove or clarify something they feel about themselves, and a nurture that: “okay, well I am this”- it’s a kind of an empowerment on a personal level. (Juno and Vale, 1989, p51)

 

However what happens if our uniqueness is compromised and we have to conform; becoming clones of one another?

 

The possibility of compromising our uniqueness, the mere fantasy of having a double, threatens our identity (Morawetz, 2001, p3).

 

The first issue I am exploring is our cultures’ fear of losing its identity, as individuals or on mass. Our bodies’ appearance represents our uniqueness, experiences and cultural identity (both present and past) to lose that representation, would it mean total loss of your identity?

 

The musical We Will Rock You is the journey that explores the fear of losing our uniqueness through music. The story follows a group of outcasts who fight against becoming a clone, a repercussion of losing their individual identity. When music is banned on iplanet (the planet) people are brainwashed into becoming identical; their fashion, thoughts and music downloads. Through the songs from Queen the bohemians unite and defeat Killer Queen: a character representing the power, control and force behind the brainwashing the force for all to conform to her rules. As an audience you are initially drawn into this world but not questioning its presence: in the context of the musical you are made to feel that the world presented to you is familiar, you connect and accept it. As the story unfolds you are prompted to question the morality of cloning and if you can accept responsibility for taking away the right to individuality, if you agree with the world created.

 

The GaGa’s (the girls) do not understand when Scaramouche (the lead bohemian) questions who they are, not en-masse clones but as individuals.

 

Our individual values, reasoning capacities and preferences, distinguish each of us from other selves as significantly as appearance. (Morawetz, 2001, p18).

 

The start of act 1, before ‘Somebody to Love’ Scaramouche gets tormented by the GaGa’s for being different, expressing herself. Her body language and facial expressions are those of disgust, rejecting the thought of conforming? Visually represented through her appearance. Scaramouche is dressed in dark, textured clothing with strong bold make-up and dreadlocks visually communicating her personality, contrasting the GaGa’s white simple clothing with small hints of colours signifying the lack of individuality. The colours of the costumes combined with the precise in-sync movements of the GaGa’s, then the large over exaggerated movements of Scaramouche, demonstrates visually who and what they stand for to the audience.

 

Categorization is often problematic, because it is often determined by power and inequality and subject to stereotyping and essentilization. (Kuwahara, 2005, p5)

 

The key point demonstrating the problems associated with categorization is when Scaramouche and Galileo do not conform to the assigned category; becoming a problem for the society Killer Queen has produced, unable to identify people into categories she deems acceptable is a threat to her idea of identification; uniformity. Scaramouche and Galileo are captured and tortured for refusing to give up their right of individuality. This significant scene they verbally and physically fighting against Killer Queen, the visual representation for the loss of uniqueness threat, but no matter what she tempts or threatens them with their personal identity remains more crucial shown through their refusal to conform, shown through their strong defensive movements on stage.

 

Here the audience are directly forced to decide their stance of the morality of controlling someone’s personal expression. Is it right to take away someone’s right to express who they are - whether in speech or aesthetic? As a spectator you are lead to root for the bohemians which reflects our culture, we want diversity: by accepting people who modify their bodies western society have deemed it acceptable and created a category for them to belong due to our cultural fear of losing our uniqueness.

 

Alternatively it can be viewed that we are fearful of what might be our true cultural identity, wanting to be clones of sorts; we don’t have the courage to face it, so our reaction is to compensate by embracing body modification stopping us becoming the same. The fear of losing our cultural identity through loss of individuality is explored in depth as a theme in the events of We Will Rock You, which push the audience to accept the diversity and uniqueness we all hold.

 

Body Modification challenging perceptions of Identity, ORLAN’s Performance surgery (ORLAN, 1993).

 

Body modification is a way in which to express individuality and;

 

Within western culture the body has recently become an increasingly common medium through which personal identity is expressed (or subverted) through a variety of forms of modification (Gowland and Thompson, 2013, p159).

 

ORLAN is a performance artist whose work questions our rapid obsession with personal identity through the act of body modification. She seeks to ensure a clear link between her interior and exterior self, demonstrated within her performance art. Using discoveries in medical, scientific and technological fields is to be thought provoking allowing you to question her identity throughout all stages of her transformation, she uses her work to shift between identities.

 

Each performance surgery is aimed to alter one specific feature; historical influences are her inspiration for her new appearance. Mythology also plays a large role in her choices of visual influences, which decorate the operating room during her performance. Many gods have a beautiful appearance yet they do not conform to what is typically classed as idyllic, linking directly to how and why she is challenging the perceptions of beauty and identity through body modification.

 

Filming her procedure live is not a stand against cosmetic surgery, but against the standards of beauty within the western culture. These standards force many people, especially women, to manipulate themselves and, in effect, alter their identity to become more socially accepted. The idea has existed since ancient civilisations, not always through plastic surgery, but tribal men and women would use scarification (cutting into their bodies) to make themselves appear more beautiful within their culture, trying to live up to the standards of beauty.

 

During her 7th surgery performance she asks the surgeon to put implants that are conventionally used for making cheekbones more prominent into her temples. Orlan explains that she identifies with herself differently post operation. Therefore, with this freedom of choice comes the opportunity to explore different identities. (Gowland and Thompson, 2013, p) She articulates this is a crucial part of why she manipulates her body in such obscure and abnormal ways, referring to this as her way of being reincarnated.

 

As the audience you ponder this question of who is she, because even her smallest changes have a great impact on her aesthetically, she no longer fits into what our culture deems acceptable aesthetically; does this mean we have to treat her differently, therefore do we identify her as someone different to whom she was before the surgeries?

 

Orlan has only modified her body not her mind, she has chosen to reflect her mind through her alterations of the body to illustrate her true identity, however not all theorists determine that identity is formed of aesthetical appearance alone.

 

Is Identity our minds, Doll House (Fox, 13 February).

 

The sceptic asks what would we say about the identity if our minds, with memories and knowledge intact, were transplanted to another body. And what could we say if our body continued to exist but was reusable, was used by a newly implanted mind? (Morawetz, 2001, p14)

 

Doll House (Fox, 13 February) is a TV series that explores the sceptic’s view. Throughout the series they imprint others’ mind, memories and internal identity into reusable bodies, known as actives.

 

Thus we have the possibility of multiple identities for one person or multiple identities in one person. (Gowland and Thompson, 2013, p 173).

 

For those, who can afford it, can live out their ultimate fantasies and desires with exactly whom they want. Immediately the series involves you into the moral debate of  ‘is this right or wrong’; a debate surrounding all aspects of changing identity be it mentally or physically. Here however it is explored it in an internal sense, i.e. your mind, and therefore this theory in itself is deeply unsettling.

 

Actives are given the option to choose whether they want the lifestyle of being a reusable body, they are opting to willingly give up their identity. To the viewer this indicates that identity is not what we look like but who we are mentally. Forcing the audience to question what does losing our physical identity give us? It offers the option of relaxing, even leaving behind, the noose of personal responsibility. (Morawetz, 2001, P15) Demonstrated very clearly through the actions of the Actives. When in their non-imprinted state they resemble an outer shell waiting to be filled. Existence in this state i.e. their slow reactions and speech demonstrate to the viewer how vulnerable the Actives are, unable to produce thoughts of their own.

 

It investigates the social issue of class and self identify within this hierarchy. Having access to actives is only for those who can afford it and who have, therefore, reached a high status in life. This fact poses that question that if our identity is our minds and if they could be used in others’ bodies then this is a threat to our individual identity for that it would not be only our own identity, it is also owned by those who can afford to change us. This, in effect, makes us lose our individual identities. If we became reusable bodies, as those in Doll House, always appearing as ourself but behaving differently, implicating others would never identify with us for who we really are. Evoking a fear that can our identity be wiped so easy is a strong emotional impact by the audience. Watching this happen to Actives we react by wanting to be identified as more than only our minds, challenging perceptions of what identity is.

 

When the Actives are imprinted with others’ identities they become that person, they act and behave as the person whose mind is inside them, releasing them from the debate of morality and responsibility for his or her actions. Focusing on Echo (the lead female Active), as she undertakes multiple identities her own personal identity is being forgotten about, you no longer identify her as herself, you identify her as the person she is living as in that moment. Such as when she becomes a spy we think of her as a hard indestructible character appose to when she is imprinted as a doting wife. As an audience we have actively removed her identity.

 

Conclusion.

 

Perceptions of identity differ greatly from each individual; identity cannot be formed of only our appearance or our minds you must use both to show your true identity. Threats of losing our uniqueness is something culture as a whole rejects, myself included and therefore has pushed us to accept body modification and individuals who test the limits, demonstrated through the performances evaluated.  A deeper understanding of how our perceptions are challenged through this exploration has improved my perception of identity and its importance.

 

As individuals we should be confident in expressing our individuality both in looks and thought and we should actively challenge those in society who are only willing to judge on appearance only.  Understanding cultures’ differing body modifications rather than just reacting to them can only have a positive effect on societies as a whole and allow every individual to fully embrace and reveal their own true identity without fear of repression or rejection.