Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Goffman= Genius or Fool?
Ok, so at first thought I think to myself, “This man is crazy!!” How can he compare the natural transgression of life into death to something as staged and planned as a play? It almost seems as if Goffman mocks death and bestows upon it a certain aura of “unnaturalness” in which death appears as a thing that was planned and not something that occurred. But the more I think about it, and think about it again, I hate to admit it but the man’s right. In a way a funeral is like a play. There are those who give their condolences who truly mean it and then there are those who don on a mask a grief and then give their condolences. I’ve been to my share of funerals and I’ve seen it happen. However, I don’t think Goffman intends to insult or lessen the significance of a funeral but rather accentuate how people act in the presence of others and enforce his thesis that people consciously act in ways so as to control impressions created about them. At the same time, not only are people acting so as to create a controlled impression of themselves but they are also following tradition. By this I mean that we were raised with the idea that funerals are a time to reflect and grieve for the loss of a life. So when people pretend to be morose at a funeral they are in fact following tradition, or the established idea that at a funeral a sullen tone must be created. If we were taught that at funerals one dances and laughs then that is the atmosphere that one would want to create. It all depends on the individual’s take of how a funeral should be treated. So in conclusion, Goffman (as crazy and deluded as he may sound at times) is correct. We treat situations the way we plan them to appear, whether they be sad or happy.
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When I first wrote my blog post, I had the idea that Goffman was being a bit offensive. How could he call the deceased person "the star of the show" as if the person were someone to gawk at. However, after reading this blog post, and speaking/listening to everyone else, I lightened up a bit. After all, Goffman clearly views the world in a different way than most people. You make a good point in that, there definitely have been funerals that I've attended where I felt I was supposed to act a different way (i.e. cry) but couldn't do it naturally. I had to put on a "front" or a "mask". This doesn't just go for funerals. In times like saying goodbye to your friends before leaving for college, one is "supposed" to be upset/sad. But sometimes one has to fake it because what they are really feeling doesn't fit the situation. They could be feeling happy to get away from their home town or feel free from their parents' strict rules. The point is, I understand a little more about how Goffman could have seen the funeral as more of a "performance" and how when people expect to be sad, they become or make themselves sad.
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