After reading about Goffman's Dramaturgical Analysis and watching Generation Like, I found Goffman's concept of Dramaturgical Analysis really interesting and even a little confusing. As an actor, I have always believed that theater reflects real life, but I was completely surprised by Goffman's concept that real life is actually theater. It took a while for me to figure it out. That aside, Generation Like did a great job of exemplifying the ideas covered in Goffman's dramaturgical analysis. The entire video seemed to cover up the identity, especially through social media. The documentary followed the lives of people trying to present who they "really" are through what they post, like and interact with on social media. For example, Ian Somerhalder would ask his company to post photos of him with his dogs on a social media site, and this could be to show his fans that he loves animals. It means taking a part of yourself and presenting it through its contents. In the film it was interesting to see that there are now companies that deal with impression management; companies that are basically personal marketing companies for individuals. Additionally, I would argue that social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram, are all impression management tools. Regional management definitely applies to all people with a personality or online presence. Very rarely do people post negative things about themselves on social media, unless they're secretly doing it out of some sort of backwards martyr's praise. Of course on social media people, especially young teenagers, only post things that make them look good, because they want to be liked. Or, for example, Tyler Oakley seems to only post videos about things he likes; he's built his entire brand on videos about things he likes and that's front and center. Behind the scenes would be the other parts of his life that he chooses to hide from the camera. The documentary followed many of the positive results of the social media presence, but didn't really touch on flawed performances or tactics. I imagine that ruined performances are what online personalities hope never happens to them because otherwise they would lose followers, likes and audiences; therefore, they should come up with some measures to recover. Or alternatively, they might choose to plan a ruined performance as a publicity stunt. At least from the examples shown in the film, none of the people faced a cynical performance, but instead pushed the social standards they upheld even further, but one could argue that sometimes a person might be lying about their feelings one way or another . produced just to gain approval and money. It could be considered a cynical performance. Additionally, the film wasn't much about civil inattention, but instead showed the positive aspects of the opposite, through how YouTubers collaborated to share audience bases and both gained more followers as a result. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay As I said before, in an online community we always want to show the best version of ourselves. We do this by posting only the most flattering photos, the best foods we've eaten, the wonderful awards we've won, the biggest social event of the year, etc. We choose what to show on our stage and keep anything that could be considered a flaw or imperfection backstage. Also, as I wrote before, I didn't think there were any obvious examples of flawed performanceor cynical in the film. An example of a "performative" identity through social media in the film is Tyler Oakley, who literally portrays himself through the videos he posts. of himself on YouTube. Depending on the social media site a person chooses, their performance might be crafted a little differently. Nowadays, online personalities have multiple social media accounts and tailor their performances to all of them. This could mean Tyler posts a video of his favorite books, then tweets them and takes a photo with them next to a cup of coffee and posts it to Instagram. It's about knowing the audience of each of the sites and satisfying them. An interesting example from the movie and in front of the stage versus behind the scenes is the guy who posted skateboarding videos and jokes. For him he posted skateboarding videos and then all the fun things he liked to do to get views, but he chose (as far as I know) not to be as open about his living situation and the poverty his family is in . I'm sure he chose to do this because he doesn't want his audience to think he's just trying to make money or that he's no longer cool because he comes from a low-income family and neighborhood. Additionally, viewers don't necessarily want to be burdened with the reality of other people's problems because they have their own problems that they need to worry about. Furthermore, many people's goal is to publish things that attract an audience and make money; the realities of boring life are not really a source of income. Again, as I said before, an example of a cynical performance would be when a YouTuber promotes a brand, but may not endorse it, but is just doing it to get money. They are using their performance for their own gain, even if they don't entirely believe it. You might even say that the young skater's prank videos are spoiled entertainment as he embarrasses himself for the views, but in the end he's probably not embarrassed by them since he's making money. Civil inattention might be exemplified by the Hunger Games fangirl trying to reach out to the series' actors and usually being ignored by them. Occasionally, as we see, he received a response. As we saw with the young Hispanic girl in the film, women/girls process their personal performances differently than men or boys. We saw her mother explain that when full-body photos are posted on Instagram, she gets more likes. The subtext of the situation is most likely that girls/women can and do use their physical appearance and body to attract attention. It's the sad truth that women can't just be funny or smart, they also have to make their bodies part of the equation. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Customize Essay Overall, I am absolutely convinced that Goffman's theory holds weight regarding how we interact with social media. It explains why people behave a certain way online and why they feel pressured to always be perfect online. Personally, I've done my best to make my social media “self” a relatively true reflection of myself, because that's the human goal; make yourself understood and noticed through social media. I must admit, however, that I don't post on social media very often, but when I do, you better bet I'll try my best. Works Cited Goffman, E. (1959). Self-presentation in everyday life. Doubleday. Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Harper & Row.Hearn, A., & Schoenhoff, S...