On page 3 first paragraph, Lacan talks about the mirror stage and about "faces" we analyze throughout our daily lives. He talks about the image being a threshold to the invisable hold. The invisable world being the internet by chance. Hes saying that we hold a "face" to people that we meet, to what WE think of them. In reality, yes there are real faces, but on the web we make our own faces for people.
Another paragraph that caught my eye is page 4 first paragraph. Im still having trouble exactly understanding this essay. But I'm not to sure he does either! He talks about the relationship between an organism and its reality. Throughout our whole class we talked about what really is reality while your on the web. Is there A reality on the web? I guess to people who are honest and themselves. But what about people who make fake identies? I guess everybody has to find their own reality on the internet, if not they may not know what the difference between real life and their "second" life!
1 comment:
Tacey:
The image and the way a variety of images structure our relation to others (and ourselves) is a good way into understanding the Lacan essay, and to applying it to online interactions. I think you're right that we seek out faces - we hold a face to people, as you say; we make them into a personality, into a person, even if they're only showing us a part of their identity or perhaps lying altogether; we do this even with nonhuman things as well such as the avatars in Second Life. So, yes, I think this applies to "making our own faces for people."
As to the second paragraph, regarding the relation of the organism to its reality: yes, certainly it's a difficult essay, and takes some time to work out. I think the key thing in his argument about the relation between the organism and reality is that Lacan sees it based on misrecognition, on the faulty identification of the self with the mirror image. So, not simply that "everybody has to find their own reality on the internet," but this reality will always be fictional and inadequate in relation to the body and real existence.
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