When tasked with making a list of things that make you who you are, I found myself more stumped than I had imagined. I’ve always been a believer in nurture over nature but the most obvious thing popping up in my head was DNA, well that’s the biological answer anyway. It’s hard to weigh up the significance of that in making you who you are, compared to other elements like memories and personality. Perhaps my difficulty approaching the subject was less about listing elements but more about what goes at the top of the list. Because surely DNA informs your personality and upbringing as it links to who raises you? But that isn’t always the case and it became even more confusing when I was told that every cell in your body changes every 7 years. My head started to hurt, but I think that’s a good thing.
As part of this week’s reflection I did some research on a piece of work that speaks to me about identity, culture and context but mainly focuses on the subject of identity. The work is a short film, directed by Joschka Laukeninks and is called BACKSTORY. The film follows and narrates snapshots of the life of our protagonist, the back of somebody’s head, as he progresses through the highs and lows of life right up until the moment he dies and everything stops. The pace of the film is generally fast, speeding up when things are good and painfully slowing in times of pain and grief. It is only at the very end where the protagonist’s face is revealed and the viewer is reminded that although it went by so fast, he was present and lived every second of that life. The film encourages you to make the most of every moment and reflect on your own identity and unpredictable path in life. After watching the film a few times through, I definitely felt like the protagonist was totally defined by the events in his life and so maybe this has helped me to answer my own question from before, that it is a person’s real life experiences that make them who they are rather than biology.
PCA Isobel Wilkinson - BA Film 