adamsfriendjoe

As you have probably noticed, I have taken a while to get into this blogging bonanza and it was (still is to a certain extent) because of a problem I have always had with the form of writing I perceive blogging as. I have also had major technical issues, but that is neither here nor there! Anyway, my main problem was that this is arguably one of the last forms in which the author not only exists but is usually the main subject of the text. I know this is not necessarily true – the blog does not always have to focus on the author and, even if it does, it can be interpreted in many different ways, such as a metaphor for the struggle of rabbits (It’s up to you. Who am I to judge? Although it isn’t) – but the authors of blogs tend to be more overtly intertwined with the subject of what they are writing . Therefore, it becomes a highly self-reflexive piece of writing, where the author can and does create their own image.

In this respect I often see blogging in the same arena as diary writing, Myspace and Facebook. MySpace and Facebook, in my opinions, are more extreme forms of this type of writing. On Facebook, for example, you are effectively creating your own virtual self, where all information supplied (and very importantly withheld) is aimed to show people what type of person you are, what you are like, without even meeting you. Your music, films, profile picture, applications, notes all focus the attention on yourself, and you are in the power to shape how you are perceived.

Similarly with diaries, I always felt in the spotlight, forced to regularly create and update of consciously created image (I was an overthinking child). Although the diary is considered a private affair, I found that it was extremely public. You were transferring your private thoughts, in all its nakedness, into a medium through which other people could then read it and thus gain a better understanding of yourself. Writing a diary that you keep is, in my opinion, allowing people, who may not have even met you, to know you. And I firmly stand by the belief that this, as much as we may be unaware of it, comes through in the writing. You shape the way you say things, perhaps only little changes, but nonetheless you are writing yourself and so inevitably bring in the question of reliability. Therefore, to take myself as an example, whenever I tried to write a diary, I would write one, maybe two, entries in which I would discuss my views of the universe (deep and philosophical thoughts) and then I would dry out. My days are usually rather mundane so I don’t want to write about that and I couldn’t bring myself to writing my true feelings (et cetera) because I found I inevitably altered them, creating a character on the page that was not truly myself.

And aren’t blogs quite similar?

My favourite blogs before I really knew what blogs are, were the ones with all music on, mainly on account of downloading free music. However, looking back at these, aren’t these blogs incredibly self-reflexive, showing people what music the writer likes and thus shaping how we perceive them? I have spent the last two weeks reading a great number of blogs and the majority of them are about themselves. Even this one is focused on myself. It may not have profile pictures (although some do), but the subject always appears to be closely and, importantly, overtly associated with the writer. Even the way it is presented brings the focus on the author. For example, the presentation I previously chosen for my blog is described as, ‘A narrow two-column design with red and blues that just screams personality.’

The blog maintains the author. In some respects, the blog is the author, although I do not want to slip into writing vague sentences that just try to sound intellectual.

However, where blogs seem to alter is the freedom with which they offer. Where MySpace and Facebook provide templates for your personality, the blog can be taken in many directions. Annonymity does appear possible if desired.

It’s just that people who write blogs tend not to want to be annonymous and this may be an important point.

Perhaps people do like talking about themselves. Perhaps writers, unlike myself, do not like the fact that they ‘die’. I do not really use Facebook or MySpace or write a diary and these are all popular writing tools. And I am not saying that I believe these are less acceptable forms of writing. I would love to be able to write a diary or be able to constantly put in the effort of writing notes on Facebook. Therefore, it appears that maybe there is just something wrong with me!

However, the main conclusion, I think, that can be made from these ramblings is that perhaps these forms of writing exist because people do not like the fact that authors die. Perhaps they do not think it fair that something you work so hard on, leaves you and becomes a whore of the public, changing its meaning and form to make it important to everyone. Perhaps these forms of writing is the last ditch attempt to revive the author and the way you view that really depends on how you see Frankenstein.