Re: Innocence -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 07:46:44 03/27/08 Thu
Author: CS Holden
Subject: Re: Innocence
In reply to: Caitlin 's message, "Innocence" on 18:59:37 03/26/08 Wed

Little of Column A, little of Column B, I think, as far as whether mimesis is part of nature or nurture. I think society certainly reinforces mimetic tendencies.

But I also think part of the good thing about our society is that we tend to be very self-conscious. I mean, we�ve established that we still have all these tendencies. We still imitate, we still appropriate, we still desire prestige, we still choose models poorly, we still construct a psychosis for ourselves in which we obsess about being the same as or different from everyone else. But the very fact that we realize it is a step in the right direction.

Parents can (and often do) also teach their kids to be conscious of mimesis. We�ve heard some comical examples in class (smoking the pipe), and indeed the problem of being the model for an innocent person is really dicey.

However, I think we need to be careful calling the subject innocent, a �tabula rasa� upon which has been scribbled the behavior of desire, because that�s exactly what most subjects think of themselves.

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Replies:

Re: Innocence -- Katelyn R., 21:56:06 03/27/08 Thu