In Neal Gabler’s Life: The Movie, the reader is thrust into a world where life not only imitates entertainment, it is entertainment. And no, this is not sci-fi. This, as Gabler demonstrates, is real life.
The book discusses how everything that we do is a performance. We dramatize and use theatrical expressions and gestures across all ranges of communication. With everyone watching us 24/7, we grow up as artists of theatre, masters of exaggerated acting skills. As I read the book, I couldn’t help but relate it not only to film, Hollywood, and television (yes, even in terms of news stories), but also to the Internet. Specifically, blogging.
Life as blog and blog as life
The classic question of art imitating life vs. life imitating art is legitimate to raise at this point. Substitute blogging for art: where does life end and blogging begin? Or, for that matter, where does blogging end and life begin? For bloggers, are the two even separate at all?
For myself, I would say that they are not separate. This is neither a “good” nor a “bad” thing; it simply is. I write about many things on the three blogs that I have created, and a major part of all of them is the personal voice that I use. I share intimate thoughts and happenings with my readers. I do many things in life because of my blogs: taking the time to write them is one part, but so is the way that I conduct month-long nutrition challenges, or review books and products and so forth. My life is highly influenced by my blogging.
It has become even more affected now that I’ve started my Health Writer Eats blog, which documents my daily food intake, exercising regime, sleep schedule, and change in body composition. Too much information to have on the ‘net? Maybe, but why not? What’s so different between that and posting photos on Facebook? Besides, who’s going to actually follow along and read what I eat every single day? It’s more to keep myself accountable—which is the whole point of this blog post. Knowing that I will be blogging about these things may or may not impact my choices.
Reality as a performance
Again, I do not believe that this is either positive or negative. I do believe, however, that it is an excellent example of how life is media. “Reality” is all about entertainment; it’s all about the possibility that “someone” could be watching. It’s all a show, our everyday actions. And that, in essence, is real life.
The question I now pose to you is this: are you happy with the show that you put on for the world? Do you like your style, your performance? Regardless of whether you like how your portray yourself or not, it’s not *just* a show. It’s real life. It’s you.
For me, yes: I am happy. The medium that I use and the way I present myself within that media—the life I lead and the way I lead it—are precisely where I want to be right now.
How about you?
That’s profound.