Mediated Identity in the Parasocial Interaction of TV

Electronic media contributes toward modifying the self as they shape it as a multivoiced construction. Television talk shows function as a space of parasocial interaction where ordinary people represented on the screen offer involving images of subjectivity for the home viewers. This chapter hypothesizes that viewers co-construct identities through involvement in what they are watching and employed focus group discussions and content analysis to investigate this hypothesis. Electronic relationships contribute toward modifying the self as they shape it—not as a univocal structure, but a plural construction originating in the technologies of social “saturation”. Identity is a “process of self definition directed by the connection self/other”; it is a dynamic construction coming from a multiplicity of people and voices in self-presentation. Self is a dialogical reality produced by interchange with other selves in social contexts; it is a decentralized construction produced by negotiation in social relationships, and because of this its nature is mutable and alterable.