Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

    The need to step outside oneself seems o be strong in our society. We make our identities but we have a constant desire to explore ohters. This is very apparent when looking at performance of any kind. Why do actors act? Most likely because it is fun to wear something we would not usually wear, act a way we wouldn't normally act, be someone else. The need to change our role is not only quenched by acting out another identity, but also by watching and fantasizing. You watch a movie about someone's life and fantasize about being her object of affection. In this way, performers fulfill a societal need to step outside one's self. On the other side there are bodies that represent shame and dislike. The homeless man talking to himself on the street corner, the meth-head with welts and cracking lips. These are the things we turn away from, we fantasize that they do not exist.