THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

3.2 Double Whammy: Mixed Doubles The Avatar in PanamaIf fragmentation, mourning and loss are at the heart of thepsyche, a sense of emptiness will always mark the self. To compensatefor this, the subject creates narcissistic illusions of perfection andwholeness. 121 Disintegration, contradiction and dislocation arecharacteristics of postmodernity that are mirrored internally at the levelof the self. Lacan claims the self is based on something that is not evenreal. The concept of self-identity is fictitious and the narcissistic illusionsconcerning selfhood can be traced back to early life. The “Mirror Stage”can be interpreted as a literal or metaphorical idea in which an image ofperfection is reflected in the mirror; self-unity seems to present itself butin fact is not achieved as the individual was previously uncoordinated(34-35). It is through this misrecognition or misperception that the childgains a self-identity which is false.The Freudian point of view sees selfhood as a “direct outcrop ofunconscious itself”. The Lacanian view asserts “this potential for selfintegrationis deconstructed as an imaginary concealment of theabsence and lack which haunts personal identity”. There is no individualsubject. 122 Others, like Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, questionLacan’s emphasis on loss and believe today’s schizophrenic experienceis culpable and that schizophrenia, as well as psychosis should becelebrated, considered creative, and liberating. 123In folklore and pre-modern society, identity was fixed andstable. In modernity, it becomes subject to change and its boundariesexpand, yet it remains limited as it is interpreted largely through socialroles and norms. So how is one presented to others and to ourself? Isthe concept of identity different in postmodern society? Postmodernismposits the self as fragmenting or disappearing because of the supposedpostmodern society, and that subjective (modern) identity is a myth(143). In postmodernism, the self disintegrates, shatters, anddisconnects; the decentered postmodern self has no coherence oranxiety like the modern self. Postmodern theorists claim the self hasimploded into masses and that the fragmented, disjointed, anddiscontinuous mode of existence is a fundamental characteristic ofpostmodernism culture (144). Identity therefore does not disappear; it issubject to new possibilities and forms, and multiple and unstableidentities. In comparison, the modern identity appears more stable. Onone hand, this increases the freedom to play with identity and to changedramatically while for others leads to a disjointed, fragmented life, inany case, identity continues to be the problem it was in modernity:121 Elliott, Concepts of the Self 137.122 Elliott, Psychoanalytic Theory 156.123Elliott, Concepts of the Self 138.220