Who Are We
In Relation to the Screen?

SYNOPSIS:  Our sense of identity has become as image-based as everything else.

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In parallel with our transformation to an image-based economy and social structure, we have experienced a shift to image-based notions of personal identity.

This may express itself in vicarious living through the personae of celebrities, or in attempts to define ourselves via the symbolism of the consumer goods and consumer experiences we purchase, or even in imagic forms of protest and "striking back."

Though the forms of expression are diverse, they are all at root based on the dissatisfactions inherent in making what appears on a screen the central reference point of our worldview.

(c) COPYRIGHT 2002 ROBERT WINTER.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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More Specifics

	We look to our celebrities as earlier civilizations looked to their gods and heroes.
	We try to define ourselves via our consumer choices.
	If we lash out, we tend to do it symbolically rather than substantively.