Authenticity

46 Meyrowitz appears just as relevant today even though it was devised in a time where electronic media still did not know the face of digital media.

Scientific Theoretical Link

Arguably, as the theories of Goffman and Meyrowitz concern theatrical performance between a performer and an audience, they can be seen to have common denominators with phenomenology as this paradigm argues that reality is the world that appears to a subject through experiences (Juul, 2012). Nevertheless, when utilizing the theories of Goffman and Meyrowitz in our thesis, we will take a hermeneutic scientific standpoint. Specifically, this implies that our research will move beyond having a primary focus on experiences but rather on the horizons of our informants as well as us, the researchers.

47 mediated authenticity. This entails that the degree of authenticity is measured on symbolic negotiations, hereunder trustworthiness, originality and spontaneity, between the main participants in the communication. Specifically for politicians, authenticity relates to the real, the genuine and the authentic (Enli, 2015) and according to Enli (2016), being an authentic politician means performing the true inner self. Lucky for politicians, they have been said to be great performers or even actors and they are therefore believed to be competent in performing their inner selves (Enli, 2016).

As mentioned above, trustworthiness is the first dimension of mediated authenticity. Today, people rely heavily on the media as a source to knowledge and to support them in decision making, creating opinions and guiding their actions as human beings (Enli, 2015). However, the media does not always succeed in providing information that is trustworthy, balanced and neutral. This is particularly true in the digital age we live in where the media is an indispensable part of our lives and where everyone can take on a role as an information provider. With the extensive influence the media has acquired in recent years, questions regarding the authenticity and trustworthiness of the media are simultaneously some of the most discussed topics in society today (Enli, 2015).

The second dimension of mediated authenticity is originality. This dimension relates to the positive associations with being characterized as “original”. Thus, a critical stance is taken to the power of the mass media and its force towards standardization as it influences the communication and makes it move away from the genuine and original qualities (Enli, 2015).

The third dimension of mediated authenticity, called spontaneity, concerns the paradox of the expectations that performers in the media should be themselves and act naturally but at the same time remain compatible with the media format criteria. Thus, this poses the conflict between acting true to one’s inner self and acting compliant with the social norms (Enli, 2015).

Further, Enli (2015) presents the paradox of mediated authenticity. Specifically, this concerns the idea that the majority of the knowledge that people obtain about society and the world comes from the media, yet, people are fully aware that this very media is constructed, manipulated and faked. In this relation, Enli (2015) presents the three concepts of the authenticity contract, authenticity puzzle and authenticity scandal (Enli, 2015). The authenticity contract relates to the implicit understanding there is between the content producers and the audience which we see when illusions, such as canned laughter, are accepted and interpreted by the audience as intended by the producers despite the audience’s awareness of the fake character of the illusions (Enli, 2015).

48 Further, Enli (2015) refers to Stuart Hall’s (1973) theory on how the producer encodes a message in a certain way to try to manage how it is read and interpreted even though the audience will always decode it through personal filters. In addition, the authenticity contract depends on the genre of the communication as the genre system is used to avoid misunderstandings by the producers and by the audience it is used to interpret the media according to its genre expectations (Enli, 2015). The SoMe platforms specifically have resulted in a more dialogical and interactive relation between the media and the audience (Enli, 2015). It happens that the contract does not hold up if the audience becomes unsure of what is real or fake. Authenticity puzzle refers to a situation where ambiguity about the sincerity arises whereas authenticity scandal has a more serious character as this is referred to when the audience experiences various degrees of deception (Enli, 2015).

3.4.1. Authenticity Illusions

Enli proposes that “mediated communication is representations of reality and thus bases its communication on illusions of authenticity” (Enli, 2015, p. 14) which means that mediated authenticity is achieved via authenticity illusions. The authenticity illusions are in the factual communication genres used to underline the sincerity of the story that is being communicated. Also, the authenticity illusions are used in the branding of politicians as sincere and trustworthy on SoMe (Enli, 2015).

The contextual social cues from non-verbal signals, such as facial expressions, looks and body language, that exist in face-to-face communication are often compromised to a certain extent in digital communication why authenticity illusions are in particular beneficial. These illusions can be reflected in online environments where companies on their webpages display images of, for instance, their employees or where people on SoMe platforms display photographs of themselves to increase their online credibility. This is deemed an important identity cue that is used to create authenticity and intimacy with the other users (Enli, 2015). In the book “Mediated Authenticity”, Enli (2015) presents four authenticity illusions on SoMe. In addition, she presents three similar, but not identical, authenticity illusions in the article “Trust Me I Am Authentic! Authenticity Illusions in SoMe Politics”

which specifically relates to politicians (Enli, 2016). Below, all of these illusions will be presented as they can be used to support each other.

A way to create authenticity illusions on SoMe is via authenticating feelings as this is a way to support the audience with social cues. In digital mediated communication, the use of emojis is an often used method to provide these cues as the emojis can provide the audience with an indication of the meaning of the text and thus, help avoid misunderstandings - for instance when using irony (Enli, 2015).

49 Self-presentation is an aspect of authenticity on SoMe for politicians specifically. This key element relates to the politicians and their staff’s decision on how to present themselves and therefore the construction of online personas (Enli, 2016). However, as the politician rarely creates the SoMe post herself, the post should appear as authentic as possible, for instance with the use of a signature or similar, in order to create a perception that the politician made the post herself. It is not to suggest that these images of the genuine and authentic politician are not staged and carefully planned but rather that these images are constructed to be perceived as authentic and personal versions of the politician (Enli, 2016).

This relates to another identified way in which authenticity can be indicated, namely through self-disclosure (Enli, 2015). Users who disclose intimate information about themselves are often perceived more authentic than the users who do not do so because of this action’s ability to establish trust (Enli, 2015).

Also, the posting of quotes and images from the private arena which is referred to as spontaneity can strengthen the level of authenticity. If politicians are perceived as spontaneous, they might also seem more innocent and honest than if they followed a script the whole time (Enli, 2016). A characteristic of this illusion is “the fly on the wall” style which can be exemplified by a situation where a politician seems unaware of a photographer which ultimately makes the politician seem more spontaneous (Enli, 2016).

Also, support from networks is an authenticity illusion used in digital communication and it refers to how the authenticity of an online identity and the trustworthiness of a SoMe post are supported by the identity’s network and various forms of sharing of the post (Enli, 2015). The support from the network can be divided into qualitative credibility and quantitative credibility. The qualitative credibility refers to the support from other influential people or institutions whereas the quantitative credibility refers to support from a large number of other SoMe users (Enli, 2015).

Additionally, Enli (2015) identifies the creation of authenticity illusions through genre conventions.

This means that a post on SoMe might seem real and authentic because it is similar to and looks like what is normally being posted on these media which makes people believe in the post regardless of what its message is (Enli, 2015).

50 This illusion might be supported by another illusion, symbolic authenticity, which means that content created by users is perceived more authentic than content created by media companies. This is reasoned by how politicians on SoMe build an image that reflects that they are open towards and able to adapt to the networked communication, sharing and participation that influence the culture of society today (Enli, 2016).

Enli (2016) points out that these authenticity illusions might just be used as a “disguise for highly staged, pre-planned and expensive productions, and a way to make politicians seem like harmless and likeable everyday people ‘like you and me’ rather than powerful politicians with control over economic resources and influence over our lives” (Enli, 2016, p. 133). Additionally, this sums up the overall motivation for the politicians using these illusions.

Scientific Theoretical Link

Despite the fact that Enli (2016) suggests that authenticity and authenticity illusions are social constructions, we will utilize the theory of authenticity with a hermeneutic scientific standpoint. As we seek to explore how Mette’s personal brand can be viewed as authentic, we will bring our own preunderstanding of this to the research, yet, we will simultaneously stay open towards new horizons on the subject when analyzing our Gen Z informants’ brand image of Mette. We will thus be aware of the initial scientific theoretical direction of the theory but use it with a hermeneutical perspective. In addition, this conforms with our research design and can therefore assist us in answering our research question.

Limitations

It is vital to emphasize how the current research on authenticity is rather limited as there are only a few that have touched the subject since it was first written about in 2016. In particular, this also applies for the theory regarding authenticity in relation to politicians. We will thus be aware that the theory might require further research in order for it to be more precise.