I have pondered about this for a while now, how much does a name of any sort reflect on how we are perceived, whether it is a name itself , or of ones title or ones job, how true is it really.
This is the first time I live in a country that is in no way related to me. I have lived in Czech before, but my maiden family name is Czech so that was sort of well descriptive, didn’t give any surprises. In Sweden, I was born and grew up so I had the support of my friends to know that I fitted in. And also you could hear that I am Swedish as soon as I spoke.
But here, they hear that I am not English, obviously, then they read my Polish surname and immediately an image, remote from which I actually am, appears in their mind and it is not only an image they see, it is also a whole story surrounding that image.
In one way it is good, because when they do meet with me and I explain who I am really, then I will be remembered (the crypto Pole who is actually a Swede but not a real one since she is Czech). But it is, in a time of quick, fleeting contacts a very hard, almost, struggle to be perceived for what you are and what you have to offer from the very beginning. And being a filmmaker to that, rings in many people’s ears, especially in the province, as beret wearing, gloomy, angst filled, good for nothing who takes himself, and his self proclaimed greatness, too seriously, while chain smoking, sipping red wine . . .Now, I am none of those things, except the occasional red wine, and yet this is what I have to calculate with when networking with other people. A friend of mine suggested to create a work name to use when working only, but isn’t that a little strange when they do find out? Because they do find out!
And on the other hand we rely so entirely on names to guide us, to know what we want, to know who we are dealing with, even where we come from. So what to do when names no longer represents a reality. Or have they ever done that?
Of course they haven’t, but for a vast majority, the easily manipulated populous, the names have given a possibility of easily (because that is the key word with this group) defining and organising the confusing world around them. And even give them a political opinion and agenda. It is this generalisation of the world that slots people into boxes and those boxes are fixed, tagged and labelled. And if you do not fit into one, there will not be another box made for you, but you will be forced into one, until you pop out and then you are placed in another one. And you need to be in one.
But then there is a certain type of people, who has had different experiences, lived through different things, met different people and they will take the extra time to look beyond the name, who knows that if you look hard enough you can get surprised. And the funny thing is that this group of people is a cross section of all classes, you can find them among builders, among shopkeepers, among the upper classes and among the lower ones. These are the ones that we should look for and when we find them keep hold of. Because these people are the real builders of a good strong and respectful society (not tolerant, hate the word tolerant, I do not want to be tolerated, I would like to be respected though). These, and not the politically correct, bland people who will mark words, and names, and gets offended by their own gender, are the ones who will create a happy, inclusive and prosperous society. If that is what we want?
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