When I put up the avatars ( I don’t know why I don’t want to call them ‘ my’ avatars) my intention was to hint at exactly what dear rajati kannan wrote about – the fact that one has absolute control over it! But frankly, even after creating two avatars, I don’t think I have succeeded in representing what I had set out to represent. The nagging question is -Why? Not simply because perfect representation is impossible….. but because, though I get to choose from 5 different hairstyles (to borrow Rajati Kannan’s phrase), I didn’t quite like any of them and had to settle down for that which was closest to what I had in mind. Aren’t five hairstyles too limited a number for an option that is supposedly ab/used by people world over? The application I used to create the avatar, called ‘ Zwinky’( first hit on the google search list) gave me just four options for the ‘body’ I wanted. I could choose from “hot girl” “ hot boy” “ cute girl” “cute boy”. The “hot” options showed “ perfect” bodies and the “cute” options were that of little girls and boys! Maybe I should have choosen another application that gives one more options! But the fact that there are only a certain number of body structures you can choose from (this is strictly for lay people like me who depend on first hits of the google search to create avatars) still remains moot, despite which, as Rajati Kannan says “the avatars are everywhere”!
All am trying to say is that the “avatars” capitalise on very stereotypical imaginations of the body, that are very much rooted in the ‘real’ world. I can choose to be whoever/whatever – a ‘hot boy’, ‘hot girl’, ‘cute boy’, ‘cute girl’. But that’s it. I cant be a rickety old man leaning on his cane for support! Maybe i can be...maybe i could have created an avatar with a different body structure, if i had chosen another application ... but it would all depend on what am ' looking for' in the cyberspace... if my priority is finding dates i wouldn't think twice about using the "hot" body!
Notice Manasi’s collage of avatars. Maybe the man in the last row, supporting a frilly frock does challenge the gender constructs of the ‘real’ world. But the fact remains that his/her ‘body’ is the perfect hourglass figure! ofcourse! It could well be a deliberate choice. But that still doesn’t defeat or challenge popular, stereotypical constructs of a desirable body of the ‘real’ world.
Which is why I would not go so far to say that in cyberspace, “new power structures are created". It merely has the potential to, as haraway would put it, make way for ‘effective progressive politics’. The question “how does the cyborg negotiate his* relationship with the digital avatar and the cyberspace” (*emphasis mine), is therefore quite a complicated one. One needs to look beyond the “gender codes”, the replication of the same etc.….. and more at the dynamics that underlie such codes, how they have, if at all, changed or not.…. It’s a question that demands detailed and systematic discussion, that is, I think, quite outside the scope of this blog. But those interested can visit http://identifycrisis.wordpress.com/.... The arguments are stimulating!
And…. “how do we resist hegemonic forces in the cyber-space?” – an important question! ‘knowledge’ – the immediate answer. To hack and access restricted sites is an unimaginable task for a person like me! But am sure its all in a days work for those IT pros!. But how then do we resist the hegemony of knowledge?? To that I have no answer.
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Dear Bhargavi,
ReplyDeletethe fact that the zwinky application offers you only four options assumes that everyone who would ever use that application would only want to choose between being man or woman or being cute or hot. which is probably because it is easy on the person who made that particular application..in this case how do we resist hegemonic forces in cyber space..probably by not getting an avatar for ourselves. however, what the avatars make possible for everyone is to attain that hegemonic cyber version of cute or hot.
Another interesting thing that you can look at while you are discussing cyber avatars are some of the games that kids play on the internet these days. my cousin, who is 15 is particularaly obsessed with one such game. i fail to remember what it is called but it involves a closet full of clothes that have to be matched to a particular occasion. what she is dressing is a mannequin like thing which is a chosen celebrity body (?!) So, my cousin spends hours dressing this body-thing for various occasions like party, daily wear, exercse gear and what not!! everytime she puts together a great outfit she earns points with which she can shop for more hypothetical/virtual clothes for her closet.
i wonder how such games fit into the whole cyber hegemony/ virtual avatar discussion. it definitely feeds from real life. but the fact that cyberspace allows for the realisation of these hegemonic aspirations could lead to an interesting discussion..
I completely agree with you. Its almost like I can never "be myself"...my plump, short, black haired, and definitely not your perfect hourglass figure can never find itself on the cyberspace. Even though I am sure there are a lot of people LIKE ME out there, i feel that the democratization of representation on the internet is still a distant dream. But this blog is a good start for us to realise that we lack it, and who knows someone might get inspired to do something about it :)
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