Private Lives Public Spaces

        This is the first time I watch the home video. My family didn’t take some videos as records or commemorations except photos. When I see these home videos, I suddenly found that these videos are not only records but also cultural exchanges for different people in different eras. At the same time, I saw different people and families who they truly are.

        The reason why the home video amazed me is because of its trueness. Some of these videos are less than five minutes, some of them are longer than twenty minutes. But all of them contain people’s love for their lives, children, families, friends, society, and cultures. There is a video recording a child from an infant to a child who can walk slowly. This video recording the growth of the children and his/ her parents ‘unreserved love.

        When we think about ‘identity’ we usually think who or what kind of person we are. Whether it’s our way of thinking, our behavior, or our preferences, which all constitute our own identity. Identity is not only a manifestation of personality but also proof of individual in society. Thus, after watching the home videos, I start to think of a question: who I am or what kind of person I act.

        One of the simple examples is the standard of beauty. Whether media or society always establish the standard of beauty. It could be a beautiful model on the cover of the magazine, or the princess and prince in the movie. People will imitate, discuss and pursue this kind of beauty. “She identifies particular desires as key forces in shaping identity: to seek attachments to others; the pursuit of recognition and dignity; feelings of agency and empowerment; avoiding fear and anxiety.” (Judith, p.385) When I look at myself in the mirror, I don’t think I am beautiful. I think my eyes are not big enough. I feel my eyebrows are ugly. I can always pick out my shortcomings even I already put makeup. It still can’t give enough confidence to me. Beauty is based on human beings and feelings. The impact of the object world on beauty is based on the impact on people. In fact, because of the standard of “beauty”, there has the word “ugly”.

        There is another video that has a white girl dancing on the street. Statue of Liberty stands behind her. Later her friends who are black come to meet her. They talk, laugh, and dance with her. Most of the moments, the Statue of Liberty always stands in the background. I think this video is very meaningful. Even in today’s society, gender, race, skin color discrimination is still a normal existence. This makes me always ask myself that is it so difficult to accept differences? The Statue of Liberty stands for freedom and acceptance. To accept different skin colors, cultures, races, and genders is truly realized freedom. I think this video not only reflects acceptance but also conveys the idea that “everyone is equal “to us who watch the video. We should not judge a person by their appearance. The difference should not be a problem.

        Before I watching these home videos, I couldn’t understand why the museum calls this area “private live public spaces”. These home videos record the induvial person or community’s personal lives, different dresses, and cultures. It not only represents the individual but also the era. I think these videos also represent some personal thoughts that they want to teach or tell audiences. Each small individual forms the whole society. These home videos seem to record everyone’s private lives, but because of the museum, they display histories, cultures, and ideas to us in an open form.

Citation
Howard, Judith A. “Social Psychology of Identities.” Annual Review of Sociology, vol.   26, 2000, pp. 367–393. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/223449. Accessed 18 Feb. 2020.