Who is the real Slim Shady?

The article by Watts on Eminem was really eye opening especially about this concept of authenticity. I wrote down in class that the only authentic authenticity is a created authenticity. This concept of authenticity seemingly permeates every facet of our lives. It seems that in our quest to establish personal identity, we are attempting to develop our own personal concept of what is authentic for us. We generally manage these concepts both intrapersonally and interpersonally. If we see ourselves as a brother or the funny guy in a group of friends we spend cognitive energy attempting to make decisions that interact with the way we view ourselves. With this definition of authentic self it seems that we are focusing our energy almost on chasing what we define this personality characteristic as. This reminds me almost of the concept of chasing cool, in that once we reach the "authentic" identity characteristics we move on to additional concepts of authenticity that we strive to reach.

Watts guides us through a movie in which Marshal Mathers a.k.a. Eminem places himself in a place where he can provide the public with a dialogue on certain aspects of the authentic Slim Shady another one of Mather's monikers. At one point Rabbit rescues a homosexual man from harassment and Watts believed that this was an attempt by Mather's to quiet rumors that he was homophobic. He also justified bashing his mother in many of his lyrics by portraying her in the movie as a worn out, washed up, terrible mother that relies on abusive relationships for support. I think this hypersensitivity to his image is interesting and it shows the lengths that people are willing to go to protect ego. Would it not be nice if each of us could make a video or even a song that could justify certain parts of our identity? After reading this article and thinking about authenticity I believe that the most honest way to become authentic is by thinking very little about your identity and authenticity. By very nature of attempting to become authentic you become unauthentic. The real Slim Shady with regards to this article is an ego obsessed man who lacks true authenticity.