Representation will always be Misrepresentation

The task of trying to represent another person in any form and any medium will always fail.

Even representation of oneself can go horribly wrong. There is no way to set oneself apart from the knowledge and experience that a person has gain throughout their life. It is not possible, and we gain more of both everyday through our interactions with the world. The problem with trying to represent anyone other than yourself is actually in the wording. The problem is that everyone is an other. No two people are the same and no two people have the same perception of the world. These two differences lead to two major problems with representation, generalization and alienation. We understand who we are by understanding who we are not and why, which alienates everyone. Generalization causes misrepresentation because even if something is true about the vast majority there is no way that it is true for all. There are always going to be outliers even when thinking about social cultural norms. It is not possible to encompass everyone, so instead of always trying to identify with a group that will then be misrepresented and offend; we need to realize that even among similarities there are also differences. Every person has a different perception, so which one is accurate? Are any of them accurate? Maybe for that one person at that one time it was accurate but in a global scale probably not. Even the most earnest attempts at objectivity are always going to have the faintest tinge of subjectivity. In the documentary people of Western Culture were interviewed and in class we discussed whether we were being represented in the documentary and my personal answer is no. I understand that these interviews were supposed to reveal some truth about our culture’s mindset and attitude toward other cultures but do I identify on a person level with the interviewees, no. I understand that there make be other people like him, I can see how it is possible for him to have those opinions and say what he said. Do I always agree? No, but I also know who I am and where I am in relation everything. I wouldn’t get offended because I understand that there is always an angle and there is always something that someone else wants me to see. Even the lens of a documentary is subjective, there is a goal, and endpoint, and a spin. There always is. Just like there are two sides to every story, sometimes they match up but more often they do not.