Life as a Drama

Have you ever though about why you perform certain actions in private as opposed to those you do in public. This is one of the main aspects of "Dramaturgy". Although the idea was formally presented by Goffman he had numerous inspirations for conceiving this idea. Some of his inspirations link back as far as William Shakespeare. One of Shakespeare's more famous quotes that related to the theory of dramaturgy is

“All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages …”

The basic idea of dramaturgy is that life is a game or a drama and that like any game it has rules which the players are expected to follow. These rules lead to an ideal where social interaction in our world is conducted on stages, just like a play. There is the interaction that happens on the front stage and is open for the audience to see and then there is the interaction that happens back stage which is viewable only to a select few. In some instances further 'behind the scenes stages' exist to create more then 2 stages for interaction.

An example of backstage work is the effort you go to planning for a job interview and organising what to wear and what questions you wish answers to, while the front stage work is actually attending the job interview, wearing the clothes and the questions you ask in the interview.

Although a mock of the differences between males and females the following meme shows the backstage process of getting ready with the final pannels showing the front stage results.

The rules that control what interaction happens on what stage are controlled but the ritual structure of society. For example it is seen as inappropriate to interact intimately with a partner in public yet that behaviour is perfectly acceptable in private. By following these unwritten rules we know what behaviour is appropriate in certain situations.

Tales of Symphonia quote: [After he hugs Lloyd from behind after preparing a meal with sleeping drugs in it] "Cause we're best friends, right? I worry about you. You must be tired" This quote shows the difference between front stage (observable) and backstage (hidden) behaviour.

Comment: http://sociologyandstuff.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/goffman-and-andy-do-you-think-babies.html