Assignment - Dada Performance Year- Freshman

Skill-Media, Creative, Literature, Group Dynamics, Performance Portfolio Competency- Social Awareness

The Dada movement was a surrealist art movement in the early 20th century. It was a reaction to the
horror and traumatization of World War One. It expressed artist’s thoughts and protests in a nonsensical way
that was wildly popular. For drama class, we had to think of an issue we saw in society and make a scene
showing this issue and why it negatively affects society. For my Dada Performance, Jonah, Ayush and I did a
skit on the personas that people create on social media, incorporating different media elements to aid our
performance. This assignment helped me to learn about the ways that people use social media to lie to others
and themselves and also what I can do to help get rid of peoples insecurities that drive them to create such
personas.
Our performance was inspired by people creating fake online personas. People, mostly kids, do this to
make others think they are cooler, richer, more sociable or whatever they desire. This is a problem because it
leads to fake relationships and people who aren’t who they claim to be. Creating online personas can also create
jealousy in others who think themselves inadequate because of the perfect lives they see other living on social
media. Before doing this performance, I was aware of this issue, but creating a whole performance on it
deepened my understanding of the affect is has on society and really made me think about the problems it
causes.
This problem gives me the opportunity to create positive change in several ways. The first way to solve
this problem and create positive change is to let people know that they appreciated the way they are and don’t
need to make themselves more attractive, wealthy or popular to be accepted. This could also be helped by
reducing the use of social media. If one doesn’t use it, the problem is eliminated. While social media can be
very fun and useful, it can also be distract from what one’s values and is truly important in life. Either way, fake
people are created through insecurity and instilling self confidence in young people is the most important
solution to the problem.
This assignment helped me understand that I value being true to yourself and being honest towards
others. By creating fake online personas, you are essentially lying to your peers and yourself about who you are
and what your life is. It’s tragic that people feel the need to do this to be accepted in society and my values
strongly go against it. My values affect my actions by making me object the illusions that people create around
themselves, and make me try to appreciate people for who they are in real life and not a perfect person online.

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