Midlife Mimesis? -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 08:29:46 03/20/08 Thu
Author: CS Holden
Subject: Midlife Mimesis?

A question about "individual mimesis" as opposed to "interdividual mimesis": Is it possible to be your own model? I ask because I think my dad is going through his midlife crisis. I wonder if what we mean by "midlife crisis" is a peculiar kind of self-imitation.

Let me explain. My dad as a young man was extremely athletic: he ran track and played soccer in high school, he was in the military, he played sports all the time, etc. I can remember being incredibly active as a little child, mainly because I was a kid, but also because I was imitating my dad. As I grew older, I fell away from athletics and focused on schoolish things. My dad then tried to get my younger sisters involved in athletics, and one of them has really taken to it. As a result, my dad is rediscovering the joys of his youth, co-coaching my youngest sister's soccer team and making it a point to take her to the gym several times a week. Then he stopped coaching and joined a local rec club's soccer team, where, as he put it, "I have a hard time because I'm older now. I can't do what I used to be able to do." It's pretty clear to the rest of us that he is trying to get back to his younger self.

So, based on this narrative, is it possible that my dad has made an external model of his twenty-year-old self? He can imtitate and imitate as much as he wants, and he'll never 100% get there. Perhaps he's just imitating my youngest sister, who was the original mediator but is now the model? But he's still doing it, and if anything, the results are positive: he's in better health, having more fun, and the like.

Other midlife crises turn out negatively, sure: affairs, depression, frivolous spending, etc., are the stereotypes. What do you think?

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Replies:

Re: Midlife Mimesis? -- Katelyn R., 15:41:32 03/21/08 Fri