Another "Automata" blog post.

Similarly to Hannah I found the moment where Valerio removes his masks intriguing although for perhaps different reasons. Within our day to day life we all wear our own masks, we act differently around family, friends, strangers and we often act differently when alone with our own thoughts. I know I do at least. Way back in first year I had an interesting discussion with a friend in halls and came to the conclusion that these different ways we act are all a part of the cogent whole; they are elements of our personality that we let out at certain times. Following this discussion I dissected the parts to my personality and based them around a number of nicknames I have accrued over the years. I'm not entirely sure of the relevance but I thought I'd share them with you.

"Will (Me):
Will is basically the me that is out and about on a 24/7 basis. The bits of me you all know, as Will I am all the other parts put together into one sentient being... me :)

Bill/Billy (the dad):
This is my fatherly side. Bill is caring, loving and looks out for everyone else's safety before his own. This part of me mostly comes out when people are ill or drunk or just in need of some words of encouragement. This part of me reminds people of their dads which is slightly disturbing.

William (the geek):
This is the part of me that tells me to keep my head down and work like a bastard. I don't really listen to William anymore.

KillBoY (the rebel):
This is the side that tells me to dress in red and black, read Chomsky, make customised clothing, spread the truth of socialist ideals, partake in anti-war marches, listen to revolutionary music and basically stick two fingers up at the world's rulers. KillBoY is the holder of my secrets, there's darkness in KillBoY and you aint gonna hear about it.

Roy (the lad):
Roy likes to get pissed and make an arse of himself; often involving bodily functions. Roy's is also my violent side. He's my dark side, the side of me you don't want to piss off. He's the part of me that makes me work out. Probably the most common Roy trait that I'll show is my brutal honesty where I tell people what I think without thought of consequence. Unfortunately Bill/Billy usually comes out after Roy's outburst which sometimes results in rapid backpedaling and apologies. A balance can be struck though.

Stranded Hatter (the runner):
My sporty side, and yes I have one. Stranded is the part of me you see on the terraces of football grounds, or on a sports field running and turning to try and look useful while really doing nothing much atall; except for dead balls in football which I can actually use or in rugby which I can play. He has good tactical knowledge and knows where to be and when on the pitch, he unfortunately doesn't have the ability to back that knowledge up. Away from sport Stranded likes a good drink but for more manly reasons than just getting pissed. Stranded (or Strangled as he's also known) takes drinking seriously and likes to drink as much as possible without falling over or slurring. Stranded will remain seated in a pub until he feels safe to stand again."

These parts of me are still pretty relevant today (although I think I'm a very different person to how I was back when I first wrote them) and I think they are an example of the many masks we where in our day to day life. To some people I am known ONLY by the nicknames posted above and they only really see that side of me. It's especially true of the last one (Stranded Hatter) even though some of the people who know me as Stranded have started calling me Will lately, which is slightly disconcerting; almost as if they're venturing into another part of my life that they were never supposed to see. It is as though they have broken through one of my masks to see another part of me and it does make me feel slightly uncomfortable.

There's another part to my responses to the reading that I thought I'd share. I can't remember where I read it nor who said it but I know I once read that the only difference between comedy and tragedy, is that you do not empathise with the suffering of a comic character. They go through similar tragic demises, to the tragic characters. but they are created to be unsympathetic. Now this view of comedy may be slightly outdated now although it certainly rings true in many ways. If we use Friends as a contemporary reference point and take the point of Ross and Rachel's messy break up. Whenever Ross utters the phrase "we were on a break" we have no empathy for him; he cheated on Rachel and so we have lost any sympathy we may have had and so his desperation at trying to justify his actions becomes a humorous tragic folly which we find amusing. Also tying in Bergson's article with Friends you have "Fat Monica". "Fat Monica" is an example of Bergson's claim that an embarrassing body is amusing to us whilst, as a character from the past who bares little resemblance to the character of Monica that we become accustomed to, being someone we don't particularly empathise with either. "Fat Monica" is the perfect example of a cross between these two theories on comedy.

Now if we consider this viewpoint as correct then ideally robots would be the perfect comic tools. On the whole empathy with a robot is near impossible (let's leave Wall-E out of this please, he's scuppering my point) as there's nothing living about them to empathise with. Therefore machines have the ability to play the comic fool as their downfalls would merely be humorous and not at all tragic. Please also disregard that robot in the latest episode of Doctor Who; that wasn't funny, that was just plain irritating.