Individual identity is bound up in group identity. Even as a individual, some aspects of your identity is defined or altered by your role in a group. Also, being in a particular social group can lead to your identity be represented in different ways (that even may not be true). The representation of only one or two social groups may leave other people who don’t ‘fit the bill’ (mainly minority groups) to feel excluded or silenced and this could result in false perceptions of what life for other ‘common people’ must be like as well. However, when trying to represent a group of people, stereotyping becomes a big issue because they are represented in with narrow viewpoints. Representation of a group could be purposefully used to marginalise them and show the power or dominance of another group. (For example the historical marginalisation of black people by white people through inaccurate representation to support their beliefs). Furthermore, the representation of a group may be even potentially dangerous:

Take, for example, the controversy over how the new movie “Joker”, that follows the famous villain Joker in the DC Universe, could be validating the extremist ‘Incel’ group in it’s representation of the Joker. The violent ‘Incel’ or ‘Involuntary Celibates’ subculture  who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one and are characterised by extreme feelings of misogyny, resentment and self-loathing. In the movie, the Joker is shown as friendless, neurotic, socially awkward, pathetic with women and has a very intense need to be seen and loved. According to The Guardian,

“Cultural commentators are concerned that Joker might spark copycat violence or make the character a sort of folk hero for Incels” and question whether “Some alienated young men will view this movie as a validation to take more violent action”.

This example shows how a simple (but realistic) fictional movie of one of the world’s most known movie villains, by it’s unique representation of the Incel group, can act as a motivator or an inspiration for violence. Representation has power and sway over society – we may show different sides of ourselves depending on what is represented in society, or may change ourselves all together. The tricky balance between the influence of representation and the perception of the representation mean texts can never truly represent a group of people. Every one has a different perspective of who they are or who their group ‘is’ depending on their culture and contextual relation to the text; Common viewers of the movie Joker may take the movie as another piece of fictional entertainment, whereas the members of Incel could see this as a validation of themselves in society.

For this reason, it is hard for anyone (even yourself) to tell your own or anybody else’s story ‘truthfully’ because there will always be another side to your story and different ways people will perceive it. Identity is much more that a checklist of categories to fall under, it is complicated by the important and subjective nature of representation and perception.