The Oscars, Shakespeare, and Social Media: Look at me. Like me, or Not ;)
“The technological society requires men to be content with what they are required to like; for those who are not content, it provides distraction-escape into absorption with technically dominated media of popular culture and communication… “ – Robert K. Merton, 1964
February is the month of candy, flowers, and sweet nothings in the U.S. And what better way to show your significant other you like them, than sending a sweet emoji. No doubt, they’ll like you and look at you. In Hollywood, California, February 24th will be a day the Oscars will be presented at the 91st Academy Awards ceremony which brings me two actors and directors I like.
American actor and director Dustin Hoffman, in a past interview was reflecting on a conversation he had with the late Laurence Olivier, English actor and director. Hoffman asked Olivier “what makes us do what we do?” Olivier responded, “You want to know why dear boy, look at me, look at me, look at me…..” It appears our society has gone from looking at actors to our “selfies.” How much do I like me? Let me click the ways.
William Shakespeare, English poet, playwright, and actor may have understood this better than anyone. His monologue in the comedy, As You Like It, begins, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players…” Today, the World Wide Web has given us a hand up onto a stage. But theatre and the Web are not the same, or are they? The theatre sets the stage for characters, real and fake. In a real courtroom of law one takes the stand to “swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth…” Then again, how often have witnesses fallen short of telling the truth?
To like, or not to like, that is the question
Social Media, via the Internet, has given everyone a voice, and therein lays the conundrum for our legislators. How do we quiet the voices we don’t like in a country that treasures free speech? Facebook’s genesis was reportedly the program “Facemash” where users rated photos judging what was hot or not so hot. Not surprisingly, this may have led to Facebook’s “thumbs-up” or “like” button.
Shakespeare may concur with me that being on the World Wide Web is like being on stage, a place where we can be real or play make believe. Real or fake account, you can like me or not, but you will “look at me, look at me, look at me…..”