Identity & Othering Task Three

Identity & 'Othering' Task

The question of who the other is might seem useless, because in some way we are all 'others' to someone, and everyone else is 'other' to us. We can never fully know the other, and even if we strive to do so, 'the other' is constantly changing. At the same time, there can be no “I” without a relation to and a concept of the other. We need something that in some degree is different from ourselves to actually constitute a self. And therefore this is how we identify ourselves within society by 'othering' others. And therefore, this is how labels occur and how personality and perception of people and social groups have arrived. The example above is what I am going to use to explain this concept.

This advert is for the car brand Corolla. This advert is suggesting it is luxury due to the obvious reason in the background of the image. It has been designed in a way of showing royalty and therefore suggesting luxury & wealthiness, through the use of the silverware on the outside of the car. Therefore this is also suggesting that the family have a butler. This is 'othering' its audience suggesting that unless you have a butler you won't be able to afford this car.

Futhermore, within the bodycopy it quotes 'So luxurious your family will not want to leave.' This is therefore also using the method of 'othering' due to them dismissing the audiences who don't have a family. Therefore, again suggesting that unless you have a family this car will not satisfy your needs and therefore you wouldn't get this car. The use of the dusk lighting could be suggesting that they have been on a family day out and just got back, therefore this is a nuclear family and suggesting that they are fully functioning family that are happy therefore using the method of 'othering' due to the suggesting that the typical happy family can get this car.

Overall, this advert has used 'othering' in many ways due to the use of creating a divide between classes and making people feel inferior. Now, the 'others' from this advert is the audience that will 'other' themselves from the people targeted in this audience due to them thinking they are more superior within society than them, when in actual fact if 'othering' was not a common factor in society then this hierarchy would not be used to create a comparison.