Confession

In his article “Video Confession” Michael Renov discusses and analyzes the act of confessing. He notes Foucault’s theory that “We…become a singularly confessing society…Western man has become a confessing animal” (193). I think there are two reasons why Western society is a confessing society. The first is that we are a secular society, where we limit our face to face contact and rely on technology for socialization and confessing is a result of people reaching out for attention. Most people do not even know their neighbours, let alone talk to them; instead we rely on online profiles to express ourselves. Also, we are taught to keep our emotions inside and keep most relationships professional, which also leads to us not trusting anyone but ourselves. Secondly, even though we do not communicate face to face, the Western man is under constant surveillance and any secret one has is eventually exposed, which is why we confess. We want to confess before someone else finds out our secret and exposes it, which will make things even worse. Renov also notes that, “confession has been assigned a complex therapeutic value” (194). In a Western world where we have to keep secrets and our emotions inside, confessing is a therapeutic relief.

An example of this is The Chris Myers Show, where athletes are voluntarily interviewed about their life/career, and usually they reveal a secret or explain rumours. An example of this was when retired NBA player John Amaechi went on and publicly admitted he was gay. Societal pressures forced him to keep his secret hidden and his emotions trapped inside. He wasn’t able to tell even his team mates about his true self, so finally, after he retired, he went on numerous talk shows, including the Chris Myers Show, and confessed his secret. He said that feels so much about himself, even though there have been a lot of bad reactions around the NBA. I think that Amaechi decided to come out of the closet because he knew that soon, someone would find out and expose him, but also because he wanted the therapeutic value. He wanted to feel better about himself and not have to hide anymore.

As Renov notes, “it is clear that confession is not only narrativized but commodified,” which is why confessions are always being communicated via television shows because the Western world loves secrets and gossip (196). It is big money t.v., so people, especially celebrities, are encouraged to confess on television. Also, there is something authentic and more believable about seeing someone confess on a televison show that is not apparent in a book or newspaper article.

Renov also talks about the video confession between just two people and I agree with him that is very emotional and effective and with modern technology, the video confession could replace face to face confession. With web cams, editing software and video sharing software, confessing via video could become commonplace.