Representing Conformity

The Concept

For the brief of The Emperor’s New Clothes, I want to focus on the social conformity that overshadows the Emperor in deciding to allow others to judge his new suit before him, to ensure it met the standards of those whose opinions matter most to him. Ultimately, the power of persuasion is manifested within the story illustrating a desire for acceptance as the Emperor is gripped by his overwhelming need to meet expectations that are created by imposed conformity.

This is a shared attitude in today’s society as many follow what they believe to be the norm and again, this is evidently shown in the story by creating a core emphasis on the word ‘stupid’ and the constant private questioning towards the substance of the suit. Although every character in the story displayed great hesitance illustrating a lack of intuition when viewing something that never existed, due to suggestion and the fear of being classed as ‘stupid’, people chose to follow the majority influence. Majority influence plays a massive factor in social conformity as people strive to gain acceptance and approval from others and therefore sacrifice their own opinions. This attitude can be evidenced when the Emperor believes everyone else to be able to see the suit and pretends to have this ability also. This demonstrates that this powerful character is easily persuaded and this is subsequently counteracted by the innocent child who is seen to be free of expectations, and therefore unafraid of speaking the truth and having his opinions heard. The innocent child could be seen as portraying those who chose not to participate in conformity and value individuality, but in relation to this story, individuality can come with consequences as the child is shunned before his remarks are accepted as being the truth.

Fundamentally, I aim to highlight the power of social conformity and how this can affect the way in which a person can lose sight of their own identity through their need to conform to fit in with others. This relates to the ‘invisible suit’ being non-existent and described as ‘nothing’ as society yields under the unspoken pressure to conform and follow the majority.

Representing Conformity

Relating to my concept, i want to look into objects or methods which may depict conformity through connotations or symbolism by firstly looking into which things I would instinctively relate to conformity:

• Credit cards - objects we conform to through suggestive selling techniques
• Bricks- building structure into our lives through conventional living
• Dominoes- illustrating the chain reaction which occures when an individual yields to group pressure.
• Mobile Phones- technology advances encourage us to conform to have 'the best' form of communication available, not what is neccessarily needed.
• Lego - lego could represent the mould that those with power over society try to create and relates to children being influenced by 'structure' at an early age.

IDEA

 

I want to focus on the idea of using dominos to portray conformity as I feel this would demonstrate the effects of conformity in a way which an audience can relate to due to the simplicity of the subject matter. I want to firstly start by using dominoes to represent the impact that conformity has on us as a society by demonstrating the chain reaction that occures when an individual yields to group pressure.

The name ultimately derives from the Latin dominus, meaning "lord" or "master."

Master has connotations of power and therefore portrays the informational conformity which is displayed within the short story as we look to people with power to gain answers. The government could be represented by one singular ‘master’ domino and society represented by the rest that are falling due to the influence they have.

Dominoes also maintain an unvaried design and all in the set are indistinguishable, either blank or having some common design which relates to the lack of identity an individual can suffer form due to following the crowd.

Generic – the way we all become when we conform to fit in with the rest of society.

Indistinguishable – no real identity can be seen as we all have the same opinions and attitudes.

Aim and objectives of dominos;

·         to block opponent (obstructing individuality)

·         create equal values (conforming to correspond with others)

Overal signifiance of the dominoes

Dominoes are a generic game which relates to the theme of conformity as this is what we eventually become by conforming to fit in with the rest of society. Their overall appearance also relates to this idea as the back is indistinguishable with no real identity. This then relates to conformity as we all lack identity as we all adapt to the majority influence and have the same opinions and attitude. The overall objectives of dominoes further relates to conformity as the aim is to block the opponent therefore obstructing individuality, and to create equal values which therefore relates to conforming to correspond with others. The effect that the composition of upstanding dominoes  or regimented stance of dominos can have could characterise the impact that conformity has on us as a society by demonstrating the chain reaction that occurs when an individual yields to group pressure and the restricted structure that it also creates.