The idea of social identity is very
broad when it comes to the relation it has with socioeconomic class structures,
and gender role. With two distinct sources, Gamers and The Surrogate, they both
show example of what society is made up of. Identity plays a big role that
makes up the class structure in life. Not only does it affects the class system, but it
describe gender role in life. Throughout
the movie and the book, there are signs that portray visual example of how the
class system is structured. This all could relate to present day society.
Class System:
There are signs such as the idea of how, "Sam controls Kable” . This is an example of rich v.s. poor.
The irony is how it is comparable to chattel slavery. Sam owns Kable as a “property” and Kable is
just a prisoner of society and he has to do their bidding. The idea of having a
civil war that ended slavery is just a joke if this would cease to exist.
Gender Role:
Another example of signs that was given to show the example of
gender role is the idea that is brought upon
surrogates. The CEO of a company that sells surrogates has a
surrogate that portrays a man, Victor. She is a woman, but she gladly accepts
the idea that people treat her better if she is known as Victor rather than
Victoria. The question lies whether in society does women accept the fact that
gender role does exist. Are women seen as weak?
The idea of having a class system is very natural. Example
in both surrogate and gamer shows that there exists a upper, middle and lower
class in every outcome. From my point of view I see that there must exist a
lower class in order for there to be a upper class. A sign of where these
examples are used was linked to the creator. For example Castle, he is the richest
man, “30 times richer than Bill Gates” and Bill Gates is present day 3rd
riches man. He was able to achieve this by having lower class people who works
in the social world, “Society” and prisoner who works in “Slayers”. Without
these key people he would not be able to achieve anything. That is the example
of how society is built on wealth. The person with the most money could achieve
possibly anything.
Hey Steven, about the class structure part, I would recommend you analyze a little bit about role of the human actor in "Society". They are paid to be a character in a game. For that reason, they are forced to do what they don't want to, even something out of their morals. It is like the way the rich control the poor or in other word, the relationship between the slaver and the slaves.
ReplyDeleteAnd about the gender role part, many women unwillingly accept the fact that being a man means you are superior. However, if I were Vitoria, I would never pretend to be a man to be respected. She is smart and successful, why didn't she let the world know that the whole gender stereotype thing is lame and outdated?!
Hi Steven,
ReplyDeleteI really like your topic. You could easily do a semiotic analysis of either Gamer or Surrogates. It's up to you. As Nguyen wrote, explore what "acting" is in "Society." Still, I think you are on the right track.