First off I’d like to say that I love Jason Alexander’s portrayal of “the nerd.” He plays a character that is a middle aged, overweight, pizza delivery guy who still lives at home. He is the epitome of “uncool.” As many people do, he compares his life to the lives of people in magazines (in this instance Brad Paisley). He goes onto Myspace and creates a profile, claiming to be Brad Paisley who is everything he is not. He sits by his computer telling women he is tall, dark, handsome, and rich but avoids all personal contact. Turns out all the “hot women” he thinks he is talking to online are just other people like him pretending to be someone they are not in order to make themselves feel better. I do not get the feeling that his charade is really satisfying him though. In the end he finally comes to terms with who he is and goes for the girl next door who is much like him.
I know that there are a lot of people out there who claim to be things they are not, hiding being the shield of an internet screen. If there weren’t then we would not have to worry about internet predators and such. Although the character in Brad Paisley’s “Online” was virtually harmless it says a lot about the society we live in today. People feel that they have to create false personas or even steal someone else’s identity in order to feel good about themselves. I believe the effect is short lived though, because at the end of the night you have to look at yourself in the mirror. That was sort of the message towards the end of the video, in the end you have to be happy with who you are. He didn’t have to lie to get the girls, all he had to do was be true to himself and he was able to find his perfect match. People who aren’t going to love you for who you are aren’t worth it.
I would also like to comment on the part in the video where the mother asks the father why all of his friends online are so “chesty.” The pictures people post online are getting to be more and more sexual. Girls lunge their chests towards the cameras, and their friend’s list sky rockets. I hope no one takes that as any sort of a jealous comment, because it is not intended to be. Women just tend to put themselves out there are purely sexual beings on the internet instead of displaying their other attributes. It is one thing to have pictures on your profile, it is entirely another to be posing in lingerie. Why would someone want the world to see these pictures? Just for a long list of drooling comments from strangers around the world? Does it really make people feel that much better about themselves.
Basically the internet personas all come down to ego boosts, and low self esteem. I really think that only people who are truly unhappy with themselves would find a need to create a different persona online. Unfortunately, I think most of us are guilty of this in one way or another. Who is really going to know if we lie a little? We really only have to answer to our self.
January 21, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I loved the portion of your response dealing with the “chesty” comment. You are so right! I had a MySpace page for awhile purely because of peer pressure (which is lame, because I’m 31!) but deleted it after awhile because the pictures people were posting on their profiles were ridiculous. Friends I had known for years (and relatives, but let’s not go there) were posting appalling shots of themselves in provocative outfits emphasizing their, ahem, assets and getting their kicks out of all the comments the drooling masses left for them. While it must be nice to have people complimenting you, I’m not so sure I’d feel all that great knowing it was only because half my clothes were missing!
I remember when one of my male friends sent me to the page of a girl he was starting to date (albeit online still, at that time) and asked my opinion of her. I was curious. How in the world could I get a good impression of someone based on their MySpace page?? Sure enough, she had pictures of herself in lingerie doing some pretty vulgar poses plastered all over the page. Her friend’s list was almost entirely male and boy, did they like to leave comments. Other than the obvious, I could not figure out what his draw to this woman was. Would you really want to date someone that thrived on the comments of other men??
So yes. I agree completely with your closing comments that the people with false internet personas tend to be unhappy with themselves and are seeking out attention the only way they can. Obviously girls like the one I described can’t go walking around in public posing in her lingerie, so she uses the internet to boost her ego.