Faking it

Faking it

I have considered Malcolm’s self-concept and he is happy and very confident in himself as a courier however as a polo player he loses a lot of his happiness and confidence. His confidence and happiness is mainly affected because he had to change his appearance from a sort of Goth to a polo player, this made him feel very uncomfortable, as he had to cut his hair and change the way he dressed. As well as changing his appearance on the outside he had to change who he was on the inside to try and fit in as a polo player, this also made him feel uncomfortable. As a courier his self-esteem was very high as his self-image was close to his ideal self; however his self-esteem as a polo player was very low.

The Johari window would be applied to Malcolm throughout the show. This would show how he felt as a courier, early stages of his polo career after the final polo game, and see the size of the windows throughout each of these stages. At each stage the window sizes would be different. For example his open self-window as courier would be much bigger compared to when he started his polo career.

Goffman’s theory can be applied at various points in the programme as Malcolm had to change his identity to become a polo player which backs up Goffman’s theory that identity is a performance, as Malcolm’s changed the way he acted to perform like a polo player.

Malcolm had to follow many codes as polo player, he had to be well spoken as he had a northern accent which wasn’t suitable, and he had to look to be of middle/upper class, when greeted by a women he had to give her two kisses on either cheek, he had to wear suitable polo player attire and look like a polo player. He had to follow all these codes to fulfil his new role of a polo player.