Mimesis

The word mimesis means imitation and comes from the Greek words mimeisthat for copy and mimos for imitator. There are a number of other words related to mimesis that are similar, such as mime and mimic. Plato dealt with mimesis and the notion that art is a representation of something else in his book The Republic, but it was Aristotle whose writings in Poetics had the most influence. Aristotle (around 330 BC) made mimesis the basis of his theory of art. He wrote in Poetics that literary works, such as dramas, are imitations of reality and suggests that there are three kinds of imitation: the medium of imitation, the objects that are imitated, and the mode of imitation.

For the medium of imitation, he discusses various arts and language. When he comes to the objects of imitation, he spells out his theories of the arts and writes:

Aristotle is dealing with “men of action” here, by which he means what we would call a plot.

When he comes to the matter of the mode of imitation, the third of his topics relating to imitation, he writes that poets can use a personality, speak for himself, or have his characters interact with one another. He then moves on to differentiate comedy, which involves imitations of persons inferior to us who are ludicrous, from tragedy, which imitates actions that are “serious complete, and of a certain magnitude” (1951, 36). Aristotle's mimetic theories influenced the work of dramatists for thousands of years, and he can be considered the father of the mimetic theory of art. There are other theories of art, such as the pragmatic theory, which argues that art must be functional and do something; the objective theory, which argues that art creates its own reality; and the emotive theory, which argues that art's basic function is to stimulate powerful feelings in people.

Mimesis or imitation plays an important role in consumer culture, allied as it is to identification. Mimetic theory explains why advertisers use movie stars, celebrities, and heroic sports figures to sell products. Consciously, we may seek to imitate those we admire; this desire to imitate others is connected to an unconscious and somewhat regressive process known as identification. Identification involves our unconsciously internalizing various role models as ideals and imitating them in various ways, such as by purchasing the products they sell. As we develop, we identify with many people for short periods of time in the process of learning how to consolidate [Page 978]our identities. When we are older, we find ourselves imitating others by purchasing what they purchase, carried along, in part, by the powerful collective force of fashion.

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