Day Four: Self-Construction and Identity Building

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by Nate Savarese

Day Four was a very eventful day in the classroom. The focus of today was identity and learning about the great philosopher Jacques Lacan. We started the day by watching a couple videos to introduce us to Lacan and his theories about the self. One of his main ideas was "the mirror stage," which is the moment that a baby sees themselves in the mirror for the first time and is able to associate with the image in the mirror as a unique being in the world.

    

The mirror stage: a toddler looking at themself in a mirror. 

After writing some questions on Padlet, we started a self-recognition activity. We all compiled 8 images that we thought made up who we are. This helps us be able to recognize what makes us who we are. Then we made some edits taking away and adding things, such as words that describe us. Most people ended up with images of foods and sports and places around the world that were special to them.

This is a picture of Nate's identity slide. It includes an image of a soccer ball on a field, a gaming remote, a plane flying around the globe, a cay peeking out of a box, a black box with the word MOVIES! inside, a picture of a steak, and in image of a brightly colored musical note. 

Following our lunch break,  we watched the Stephen Spielberg film Ready Player One. This movie focuses on a man named Wade Watts who struggled with balancing life in different realities while trying to find his identity and create a new one. All of this is happening while he and his friends are racing through a game trying to find a $500-billion easter egg before others beat them to it. After the movie, we all had some in-game time to present our previous builds for Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" and The Matrix.

Isa and Max's Matrix response build. It's a "glass" box that houses a computer screen and keyboard.


Ready Player One Movie flyer: Wade Watts is wearing AI goggles and looking straight at the audience. 







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