ABSTRACT
On a daily basis, we see our reflection in the mirror as we groom ourselves. However, in our media age, we are not really alone when we see our reflection. If you want to see just how much you personally have been influenced by TV, just take a long, slow, 20-minute look in the mirror … Do you see it? … Do you see it inhabiting the way you see? …
We see our reflection on the horizon of the television culture we have internalized. We don’t so much see as we evaluate our reflected image. How does it compare to the images we have been drinking in for years from the other mirror, the television screen-that glowing mirror, ever radiating light, streaming forth an endless profusion of images? In our bathroom mirror, we see our reflection not in reference to ourselves. Rather, we see our reflection against the overwhelming host and teeming profusion of commercial representations. We can no longer really be with our reflection alone, in silence, with clarity in a non-judgmental, not-evaluative space.
