Cool Paper

Introduction
Being called fake is probably one of the biggest insults known to teenagers. It is a term used to imply that someone is not being someone you are not, or in other words you are not being "your true self". I have used my share of this statement before our exploration of cool. For instance I have told a friend to be herself when she was nervous about meeting a guy, looking back on all the moments I have sad "be yourself" I come to think; what does that even mean exactly? Who is your true self or what is it?There is no explanation of what this "true self" is. According to Goffman, we all are performers that play a character in certain situations. The concept of being "our true self" is an incorrect concept which is seen as the same level as being cool but it is a way for us to subconsciously cover up our empty feeling from acknowledgment of mortality. In reality we all just play roles and perform to fit what we call/ or want to call "our true self" to receive attention.

The Emptiness(Where it May come From)
Human beings have this feeling of emptiness, it is not sure where it is located but this feeling can branch out to many things, I think it depends on the person. It can be a feeling of loneliness, sadness, anger, melancholy, disappointment, un-importance, or a mixture. It can also depend on the social situation and people a person is surrounded with. For example is the idea that was brought up in class of "face", based on our cool status we are either credited or discredited during social interaction which can directly affect a persons coolness and dignity. Being able to identify that this emptiness exist does not thoroughly explain what it is, to get closer to what it is can be found by exploring where it comes from and/or why.

If you really thought about our significance, we are all just specks in this huge world, out of around 6 billion people thinking for yourself you are just one tiny speck that will probably never be famous/recognized by the masses out of 6 billion or have any importance. Shrinking this idea down to high school size, even in a high school of 400 teenagers you are just 1 of 400. This can make someone feel vulnerable and worthless, along side with not knowing the meaning of one's life or ones identity, this is when we generate a identity depending on certain situation thus calling it "true selves". We all are basically looking for our hero's journey which is the idea of being a main character and venturing out to seek "fabulous forces" and returning with wisdom and power. This idea of a hero's journey can also be identified with Joseph Campbell's term "Monomyth." This making one reason to why we may thrive for being cool, we generate identities for ourselves that are comfortable enough to wear and everyone is seem in their own perspective as the hero on their journey. Creating a character will give us some sort of recognition out of the large mass of people. Giving a feeling as if the hallow space of emptiness is being filled by a speckle of matter.

The second reason from which this emptiness comes from is from Becker's Theory of acknowledgment of death. If everyone was asked if they wanted to do something significant before they die they would most likely answer "yes". Everyone has to feel as if they are doing something important before they die, whether it is fulfilling a long thriving goal or feel significant to others. Everyone wants to fulfill some sort of important roll or do something that seems worth living for before they die. This can be caused of actually realizing that one day we are going to die. Thus making great new shows such as the Buried Life on MTV about 4 guys traveling the world to fulfill their '100 things do do before you die' list and helping others fulfill their choice as well(http://www.theburiedlife.com/about/). Knowing that we are just temporary make us feel insignificant which causes us to have "lists" or "accomplishments" or it makes us see ourselves as the main character struggle in this vast world trying to find their "hero's journey" before we die which is what causes us to want to be cool. Being able to be cool is a sense of fulfilling something on our list before we die. We cover up being scared of death with coolness.

Role Play
As we are the main character in our hero's journey to make our life meaningful before death, we create certain roles that fit our overall preferred character. Some of these roles can commonly be seen or related to fairytale stories or cheesy teenage television shows. For example the overall cool person to Alicia Proto is a caring guy, the sweet hearted ambitions kind of characters in her cool story. Or maybe the radical character from ali jo's story. Some other roles played in real life at SOF for example is the comedian which Conor plays well, Stephanie; the cool girl, or Victor; the video game nerd. We develop these roles which at times is expected from us. In Goffman's Presentation in Everyday Life shows the idea of how when someone walks into a room they instinctively analyze what the people around him/her are doing and immediately develop a persona or play a role that fits with what the others are doing. It is basically like we ourselves develop a own script and according to Goffman we choose our own props, costume, and play it for specific audiences. And if we play different for different audiences, which role are you playing is really you? Or what are you like when you take of the costume and stop acting? This is why the the idea of being our true self is incorrect, if we have so many different roles that we act out to different audiences then there is no such thing as true self. We would all technically be two faced, or have many faces.

There are many props we use in our acting career to project the role we are playing. The most common prop we may be using especially for teenagers is clothing, piercings and tattoos. More popular this year is tattoos. Getting a tattoo can give the person getting the tattoo a feeling of coolness and they are able to show certain ideas or experiences that may be cool to others. For example Mr. Fanning (who is actually pretty cool to me) states how when he got his first tattoos it was mainly for a rebel image he was trying to portray in a very conservative lifestyle. It was also as if it was some type of right of passage, becoming a man. His tattoos gave him the feeling of accomplishment as getting a tattoo is a long and painful process. His tattoos also show the experiences he has been through such as his experience on the operating table. They are like reminder to him of what role he plays or what roles he has played in the past. And with every tattoo there is always some sort of cool story behind it. In my own opinion I thought Mr.Fanning's story was quite cool.

Almost done......