My Personal Context (27/9/2012)

My Personal Context:

Robin Foale              27/9/2012

No one can truly say what their own context is, well, not without writing an entire essay that is. Therefore, when someone asks me the broad question, “What is your context?” I reply, “Well, like everyone else we can’t escape the fact that we have and use different personas in everyday life in order to get through or help us with certain circumstances. In my case they include…”etc.

So let me touch upon a few of the contexts that I feel relate to me and how I use different personas in order to help me establish my place within these contexts.

Home, Cultural & Geographical:

I am a white middle class student. I say this based on my parents’ professions and income. My grandparents on the other hand would have been considered working class.

I have always lived in South West England (Devon) and particular in both rural and urban settings, though this hasn’t stopped me from exploring Europe whilst on family holidays.

I don’t follow any religion even though I hope there is some sort of afterlife.

At home I am a son to my parents, a brother to my many older siblings and even an uncle to a niece of mine who I try to maintain good relationships with as it is important to me that I don’t feel I have disappointed any of them.

At home I try and stay my usual happy and carefree self which is easier as I don’t have the pressures of what people may expect of me at work or similar situations.

I have been known to go into a state of ‘work lockdown’ in my room for hours without seeing anyone in my family when I know I have to push myself into completing a piece of work or when I just need that extra bit of space to truly immerse myself into a video game.

As a Gamer when I do play a game I tend to keep the same persona as I do at home as I just like being and playing the good guy, it’s just who I am.

Social:

I take part in many activities outside of home and work including numerous Role Play groups, amateur dramatics and previously Taekwondo. All involve different yet comparable personas. For example; during my Role Play nights with the lads and drama I can act however I want to as the people I work alongside are usually all good mates of mine and know what we can get away with or not (just like in any established relationship). This is especially true in drama as I have a very ‘Monty Python’ style of acting (over the top and loud), therefore I can be as loud as I want and even exaggerate my movements to such a degree that those with a passion for disbelieve or drama will get it and hopefully enjoy it.

Whereas, when I did take part in Taekwondo the sessions where full of discipline and emphasised the use of using a loud voice. Therefore I would change my persona to being more reserved and focused so as to fully feel engaged in my training, especially when I shouted out each instruction alongside my actions which made me feel more confident with the moves I was making even though I knew I was sometimes doing them wrong.

Work:

I have been working at Tkmaxx now for two years and while there I am always polite and informative to all my customers as I am with my friends and family. However, at work I understand that I am also restricted to what I can say as although friends will get a joke and won’t mind at times being made fun of  my customers may not share this same attitude and therefore I can’t and shouldn’t risk my own job or the reputation of the store.

I also use a similar persona when at college as I recognise that I should pay attention to my lectures and also get myself involved in them. However, I know that I can also be more of myself in these lectures as I am with friends who all share a common interest. Thus I keep the benefits of being engaged in my lectures whilst feeling confident and open to both my lecturer and my fellow class mates. 

Political:

Although I recognise the importance of government and the way it shapes our country and its views I am afraid that I have no strong political views. However, I have voted in the past although I do not feel that my choices have been that well informed. Of course, when politics directly affect me then I tend to have a strong opinion e.g. student finance.  

Video Game Image and why I chose it:

As I have talked about how I use different personas within different contexts I have decided to select an image of my favourite game ‘Persona 4’ as I personally feel that choosing an image from this game makes the most sense. Why? Well considering the main characters in ‘Persona 4’ fight monsters with summons known as ‘Personas’ that are representations of the character’s personalities. The characters themselves also have numerous personalities that they show, hide and change in accordance with the situations they find themselves in, rather like we all do including myself (that’s just human nature after all).

It made more and more sense to use this image as the game makes sure that the characters feel believable by making them act and react as we all might in real life situations.

Referencing:

• Soejima, S. (Unknown) Persona 4 Poster [Online image]. Available at: http://www.the-games-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Persona-4-Poster.jpg (Accessed: 27/9/2012).