Blog Dis
The irony of image
2025-04-29
Is image the reputation you build up about yourself or is image a perception that others have of you? According to comments made by some rock icons like Mike Jagger and Eddie Vedder, they gave up ions ago trying to manage and manipulate their image into something that is truer to their real selves, as opposed to the image portrayed of them in music. The only image I know I have control over, if in fact you want to go down this path of believing in control, is the image that stares back at me in the mirror. I can control the amount of foundation I apply, the color of my lipstick and eye shadow and even sometimes control how my hair will turn out (at least until I step outside and the elements have their go, given that I was born with weather-sensitive hair). However, controlling the image you put out into the world, if in fact you're putting yourself out there in the manner that public persons do... well, we're talking about a whole new kettle of fish, are we not?
When I worked on my first series of six novels, urban paranormal in genre and also viewed by me as a vampire series, it was automatically assumed by readers that I was a trollop who prostrated myself for publicity, which I did at the time, and who willingly offered her body to the chocolate Gods with no concern for her image whatsoever (which I still do to this day), and finally that I was a sex-kitten, loose and easy, to which I won't offer comment here and now. The image my readers had of me had helped to garner interest in my writing by the media, and to strike up conversations with potential readers when I sold my books in person. But I knew the truth of my self-image without having to be told this by readers.
Image in the eyes of the media is their perception of you, and how they choose to present their story from their point of view, regardless of what you say, do or produce. The only advice I'd give anyone in a similar position is the same advice I've given myself time and again and it is this: be yourself. Being yourself is the only image I'm most concerned with, the image I feel most comfortable with because it doesn't require me to recreate it. I am myself and therefore being myself is the easiest person to be in the long run. Flamboyancy in image is something many performers do on stage to elevate their performance, and to get noticed. And if at times flamboyancy becomes controversy, more attention will attach itself to the previous image, thereby solidifying a new image. Think of David Bowie (may he RIP) and how he continually re-invented himself, part man, part alien — flamboyant costumes during his performances that intentionally blurred the gender-lines. Bowie was ahead of his time, and he knew it, and he actively embraced having his image twisted and turned and changed—on his album covers, such as being portrayed on his Diamond Dogs cover as a chimera, part human, part animal. The end result was highly effective, and his actions allowed him more wiggle room for future covers.
But this methodology doesn't work for everyone.
Sir Anthony Hopkins, when his star was catapulted to super-stardom because of winning an Oscar for his role in Silence of the Lambs, was occasionally taken aback when he'd meet new people for the first time who were afraid of him, despite him having never met them before. They were unable to separate his new found image from reality, and they reacted emotionally to the idea that he played a serial killer so realistically and so convincingly that this image merged with his real life persona.
How does one overcome this? You merely adopt a new image, and hope for the best that it will supersede the previous. Image, therefore, is malleable. Reality, on the other hand, is the solid and simple mirror that reflects back to you what is staring into it, the truth of how you look, though not necessarily how you think or behave.
It all sounds like a load of irony, this notion of image. Stack up a pile of photographs of yourself for each decade. Maybe choose five photos to represent each decade and I guarantee you that you won't recognize the image looking back at you. Because, and again, as I place the needle on the broken record player and sound repetitive, the only thing you really have control over is the image you hold of yourself in your mind. I mean to say in my befuddled mind in the morning, the thoughts I choose with regard to myself at any given moment is the only image of importance I maintain.
Image can be a conscious effort when thinking of yourself, so why not believe that you're the spitting image of your best self? Or, and if you're bored, you can always become a mega superstar musician, and play with your image with every new release, or like many politicians, you can hire an image coach who'll teach you how to present yourself to the media, to the public, in order to achieve the best result of portraying precisely the image that'll help you to win votes.
When I worked on my first series of six novels, urban paranormal in genre and also viewed by me as a vampire series, it was automatically assumed by readers that I was a trollop who prostrated myself for publicity, which I did at the time, and who willingly offered her body to the chocolate Gods with no concern for her image whatsoever (which I still do to this day), and finally that I was a sex-kitten, loose and easy, to which I won't offer comment here and now. The image my readers had of me had helped to garner interest in my writing by the media, and to strike up conversations with potential readers when I sold my books in person. But I knew the truth of my self-image without having to be told this by readers.
Image in the eyes of the media is their perception of you, and how they choose to present their story from their point of view, regardless of what you say, do or produce. The only advice I'd give anyone in a similar position is the same advice I've given myself time and again and it is this: be yourself. Being yourself is the only image I'm most concerned with, the image I feel most comfortable with because it doesn't require me to recreate it. I am myself and therefore being myself is the easiest person to be in the long run. Flamboyancy in image is something many performers do on stage to elevate their performance, and to get noticed. And if at times flamboyancy becomes controversy, more attention will attach itself to the previous image, thereby solidifying a new image. Think of David Bowie (may he RIP) and how he continually re-invented himself, part man, part alien — flamboyant costumes during his performances that intentionally blurred the gender-lines. Bowie was ahead of his time, and he knew it, and he actively embraced having his image twisted and turned and changed—on his album covers, such as being portrayed on his Diamond Dogs cover as a chimera, part human, part animal. The end result was highly effective, and his actions allowed him more wiggle room for future covers.
But this methodology doesn't work for everyone.
Sir Anthony Hopkins, when his star was catapulted to super-stardom because of winning an Oscar for his role in Silence of the Lambs, was occasionally taken aback when he'd meet new people for the first time who were afraid of him, despite him having never met them before. They were unable to separate his new found image from reality, and they reacted emotionally to the idea that he played a serial killer so realistically and so convincingly that this image merged with his real life persona.
How does one overcome this? You merely adopt a new image, and hope for the best that it will supersede the previous. Image, therefore, is malleable. Reality, on the other hand, is the solid and simple mirror that reflects back to you what is staring into it, the truth of how you look, though not necessarily how you think or behave.
It all sounds like a load of irony, this notion of image. Stack up a pile of photographs of yourself for each decade. Maybe choose five photos to represent each decade and I guarantee you that you won't recognize the image looking back at you. Because, and again, as I place the needle on the broken record player and sound repetitive, the only thing you really have control over is the image you hold of yourself in your mind. I mean to say in my befuddled mind in the morning, the thoughts I choose with regard to myself at any given moment is the only image of importance I maintain.
Image can be a conscious effort when thinking of yourself, so why not believe that you're the spitting image of your best self? Or, and if you're bored, you can always become a mega superstar musician, and play with your image with every new release, or like many politicians, you can hire an image coach who'll teach you how to present yourself to the media, to the public, in order to achieve the best result of portraying precisely the image that'll help you to win votes.
