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Girard Digest 5: Mimetic Desire
Mar. 11th, 2019 08:41 pmSo, we've established that humans are imitative creatures, and that included in this conscious and unconscious imitation are those desires which are not biological or instinctual in nature. Desires are more or less synonymous with values, as the 'value' of objects and behaviours is relative to how much they are desired. Culture can be described as a system of desires (i.e. values) held by the majority of a population. These imitative desires are called mimetic desires, as Girard prefers the term mimesis to describe imitation that is both conscious and, more importantly, unconscious.
Mimetic desire is, then, desiring what another person desires, imitating their modelling of that desire. Because so much of our identities are bound up in our desires, and their value is relative to how many people share them, we want our desires to be shared by those around us. You can lead, or you can follow: most of us do both. Someone introduces you to a new thing, and you validate them and find fellowship by adopting their desire; you need to have your new desire validated, so you introduce it to your friends, and hopefully someone else will pick it up and tell you, yes, this is a good desire to have, for I desire it too. Desires can bring people together, build a community, define the borders of that community. A common desire can be the cause of tremendous cooperation and industry, the cement of friendship, and the spark of education – we learn because we want to be like those from whom we learn, or as a means to achieving the desires of those we admire.
This is also the subconscious process on which advertising runs. Very quickly from the birth of mass print media, you can see advertisements shift from listing the objective qualities of the product ('Dr Bumgartner's Patent Liver Pills are scientifically devised to calm your digestion and improve the purifying function of the liver') to providing models for you to imitate (Sandy in Birmingham says, 'Dr. Bumgartner's Patent Liver Pills have seen off my dyspepsia!') until, ultimately, they presented attractive or important people in association with the product, on the assumption that you would acquire a desire for the product in your attempt to be more like them (Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in brilliant tennis whites enjoy a banquet on a Mediterranean terrace: 'Thank goodness for Dr Bumgartner's Patent Liver Pills!'). As the radio documentary puts it, 'the desire is not for the beer or the car, but for the quality of being of the people drinking the beer, or driving the car.' The desire that sells the product is a profitable byproduct of the desire to be as beautiful, carefree, and confident as the people in the ad.
I must restate that mimesis, and mimetic desire, is not necessarily in an of itself a bad thing: it has been the basis of all our individual development and, to a large extent, the development of mankind from the Stone Age to now. The transmission of desires from one person to another, and their dissemination through a population, is necessary for human cooperation and cohesion. But there is a shadow side, which arises from the inevitable competition for these desires, in the forming of mimetic rivalries.
Chapter 6: Mimetic Rivalry
Mimetic desire is, then, desiring what another person desires, imitating their modelling of that desire. Because so much of our identities are bound up in our desires, and their value is relative to how many people share them, we want our desires to be shared by those around us. You can lead, or you can follow: most of us do both. Someone introduces you to a new thing, and you validate them and find fellowship by adopting their desire; you need to have your new desire validated, so you introduce it to your friends, and hopefully someone else will pick it up and tell you, yes, this is a good desire to have, for I desire it too. Desires can bring people together, build a community, define the borders of that community. A common desire can be the cause of tremendous cooperation and industry, the cement of friendship, and the spark of education – we learn because we want to be like those from whom we learn, or as a means to achieving the desires of those we admire.
This is also the subconscious process on which advertising runs. Very quickly from the birth of mass print media, you can see advertisements shift from listing the objective qualities of the product ('Dr Bumgartner's Patent Liver Pills are scientifically devised to calm your digestion and improve the purifying function of the liver') to providing models for you to imitate (Sandy in Birmingham says, 'Dr. Bumgartner's Patent Liver Pills have seen off my dyspepsia!') until, ultimately, they presented attractive or important people in association with the product, on the assumption that you would acquire a desire for the product in your attempt to be more like them (Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in brilliant tennis whites enjoy a banquet on a Mediterranean terrace: 'Thank goodness for Dr Bumgartner's Patent Liver Pills!'). As the radio documentary puts it, 'the desire is not for the beer or the car, but for the quality of being of the people drinking the beer, or driving the car.' The desire that sells the product is a profitable byproduct of the desire to be as beautiful, carefree, and confident as the people in the ad.
I must restate that mimesis, and mimetic desire, is not necessarily in an of itself a bad thing: it has been the basis of all our individual development and, to a large extent, the development of mankind from the Stone Age to now. The transmission of desires from one person to another, and their dissemination through a population, is necessary for human cooperation and cohesion. But there is a shadow side, which arises from the inevitable competition for these desires, in the forming of mimetic rivalries.
Chapter 6: Mimetic Rivalry
