Narrative Vs Authenticity...Shameless?

While watching the new series of Shameless I picked up on something that we discussed in the lecture earlier today (24.01.11). The video we watched was about finding an authenticity of the true self through narratives. I understood this discussion in a variety of ways, firstly to find ones true self a person must tell stories about their life. In doing the allow themselves to piece together and make sense of the chaos contained within their lives. In doing this they gain feedback which conditions them. This feedback helps us to regulate our behaviour through the relevant social and cultural context in which we live. However in doing this many people automatically find themselves telling what they believe people want to hear.

I know on the surface this doesn't seem very relevant to multimedia but on the contrary I believe it outlines just how important multimedia is in both a motivational and philosophical sense. Multimedia is often used to depict all manner of narratives, in doing this it allows people to find their true self, in other words, authenticity.

This is a journey depicted in the new series of shameless. Frank Gallagher finds himself in a psychiatric unit due to his erratic behaviour resulting from a lifetime of physical and chemical neglect. Throughout the time he is missing he meets various aspects of his true self, all using their own narratives to depict his life. In doing this he manages to piece together the chaos that is his life, and thus his sanity.