A Myth - European Identity

The concept of being a European is both a psychological experience and a geographical one. It also manifests in popular media texts, artifacts, works, genres, and discourses. Depending on their age, upbringing, and geographic region, people have varying cognitive attachments to Europe, yet the economic benefits of EU membership need it. The media's portrayal of Europeaness highlights how different Europeans are from other people through cultural icons. Interdependence exists among the components of Europeanness. As an illustration, television news contributes to a cognitive definition of the European identity through using symbols, discourses, and tales. Imaginary constructs such as supranational, regional and collective identities are developed by the media. This research assesses the existing identity-forming approaches and strategies to demonstrate that Europeannness is a myth.

Myths and Identities

Myths are complex versatile and dynamic mental constructs that seek to explain something European myths refer to brave deeds of Greek heroes such as Heracles and Ulysses. It is a second-order sociological system or chain that is constructed. Myths are basically asocial assumptions, concepts, ideas, practices, and concepts that tend to become naturalized when they circulate within a particular culture.it is a form of speech that is distinct that is marked by definable narratives, acceptable, familiar and creating reassurance of the host culture. Myths are rational and emotional and can be accompanied by rituals, and can persist through time. Identity defines people and distinguishes them from others. Identity tends to be significantly dynamic and situational. Whenever identities contact other new identities, they are refashioned. However, they also have elements that tend to be stable and timeless that guarantee deep and reliable feeling of selfhood and belonging. Some of the identifications arenas overlap while others complement one another.

Media Content

Europe’s historical and social sets of meanings stretch out of a field of polysemy interpretations, identification, and polarities that are dynamic. The European media fulfills indispensable socio-pathological functions in the daily lives of the people, offering its audience a fix anchor point, emotional stability and creating a feeling of stability in the world that is rapidly changing. The media has the greatest influence because they are widely shared and set a sociopolitical agenda. All the shared attributes seek to knot the people close together. The televised content drives the construction of imagined communities. Some people identify themselves as Europeans because they belong to the European continent. To such people, the radius of the mental map of Europe is shaped by regional and national television. The following are the elements that popular media utilize to define a European.

History. The conventional heroic happenings are often used to describe an ideal European. Europeanness referred to as a history of success. Germany and France are perceived as prototypical nations of contemporary Europe on the media because they played a crucial role in forming the core or engine of the mythical political and cultural European Union (Wiehl 21). Historically, the two nations have intertwined history of cultural encounters and exchanges. Bavaria and Alsace are frequently referred to in the definition because they represent the regional level and are believed to have developed strong regional identities. The identities have been developed for subcultural historical reasons Bavaria, for instance, is perceived to have a status of Freistaat while Alsace is believed to be a region with a distinct language and cultural heritage in the homogenized Grande Nation of France. The media further describe myth is the Franco-Germany friendship that formed the heart of European dream the current marriage developed after several years of war which are not mentioned iconic images form a significant part of the shared European memory. It acts as a way of fostering European solidarity

Politics. Europeanness identity on the basis of politics is structured around the idea that Europe is a guarantor of peace, democracy, and freedoms. On the media, such attribute is portrayed by the metaphorical tearing down of the Iron Curtain. In addition, news narratives recapitulate the history of “The European dream”, the fall of Berlin Wall and reunification of Germany to demonstrate universal strive for oneness in Europe. Across history. On the basis of the interdependence of European identities, approximately all programs and news underscore the leading role of the European nations in this process. The attribute is explicit in France’s ARTE (Wihel 24). The narratives construct a direct connection between belonging to European nation and longing for democracy. More often than never, European media channels quote the ideals of the French revolution and the assault of the Berlin wall.

In Germany, the media evokes the notion of the universality of the European dream and refers to the collapse of the Berlin wall as a miracle. The primary strategy is creating a slideshow of European family images and a direct montage of emblematic images of archival footage of contemporary materiality, remediation, immerses the audience in the past and makes them develop a feeling that they belong to the big European family. The textual and audiovisual rhetoric underscores the contributions of the process of European unification and the decisive role to civilize. The myth is entangled within the European Dream in the introductory remarks of news, interviews and can be heard the reportage. The media thus attempts to assimilate the myth that Europe is a guarantor of democracy with the historical and cultural repertoire of national myths.

Governance and Religion

One of the greatest rulers in the history of Europe, Henry VIII claimed that ‘we are the sufferance of God, King of England and kings of England in the past never had any superior but God.” Since then, the leaders have claimed to be answerable to parliament and God only. The situation has seen the European institutions including the monarchy, parliament and the constitution exhibiting a significant stability. At the turn of the 21st century, the European cultural identity became crucial in the light of the formation of the polity of the European Union that was formed in the preceding century. To the present, the leadership and multiculturalism of Europe are primarily founded on Christian, which gives it an identity (Madeley 3).

However, the notion of having a European identity on the basis of religion is paradoxical and attracts unnecessary attention. Many can agree that there is a float in the polity as a result of lack of ideal European identity that based on culture. The founding fathers of the European Union such as De Gasperi, Adenauer and Schumann were pious, traditional, practicing Christians. However, using Christianity as the basis of defining an ideal European is wrongful because the religion originates from Asia and has little affinity to the original religions of Europe that were primarily pagan. The traditional religions of Europe were based on traditional mythologies and the dichotomy of paganism and Christianity creates consternation and confusion. By taking over from the conventional religions, Christianity diluted, emasculated and weakened the original culture of Europe. Many researchers believe that people are moving away from Christianity because it is responsible for the current socio-political problems. More people attend sports than churches of Sunday and the number of practicing Catholics and Protestants is diminishing steadily. Despite that religion is inseparable from the ethnicity, history, and language of the residents of Europe, it is not an integral part of the people’s culture.In Addition, many Europeans agree that Christianity is not indigenous but it is part of long processes that led to a subversion of the traditional European values as cultural norms. It is origin is the Middle East mythology. The European culture was Graeco Roman, hence using Christianity as a basis for defining ideal Europeans is unfounded.

Personalization

Europe, as defined by popular media discourses is portrayed as peaceful, prosperous and having an inspiring future.The European identity is further personalized through the narratives that describe young people as promising generations of the native Europeans. Togetherness is expressed using native language on the media. The inseparability in the challenging times marks the identity despite that they come from different backgrounds while growing together and enjoying the enriching multicultural atmosphere denotes one of the decisive qualities of Europeanness in the multifaceted communities coupled by enriching experience. In the audiovisual level, the togetherness is presented using dances that are repeatedly filmed using low-angle shots in form of light-blue sky. All these seek to create an allusion of the European flag that underscores the heroic significance of the next generation of Europeans. Energy, vivaciousness ad harmonic camera movements demonstrates their willingness to move among young Europeans.

The youthful generation on the popular media exhibits willingness to visit other European nations wholeheartedly and wish to be politically and socially active to contribute to the further unification of the European nations. Those that are ideal Europeans are portrayed as accepting the European points of view and adopting them. Such scenario depicts a connotative system representing a particular view of Europe and constructs a positive idea of Europeanness. The myth of tradition and emotion diversity that is intertwined, naturalized such that the conclusion does not appear exaggerated. However, such assertions represent the opportunity for the future of Europe. Despite that the spectrum is vast, the media content is an illustration of skepticism. The news channels seek to instil hope among the audience, especially when there are monetary crisis and financial breakdown. The idea of European identity is a political-economic connotation. Additionally, the notion is built on the persisting fear of bureaucratic and faceless Europe.

Europe is a horror of domineering regulatory supra-state decimating national and regional sovereignty and extinguishes specificities of cultures. One of the symptomatic examples of such loss of cultural heritage the French protest against a set of the European laws that limited production and distribution of camembert made of raw milk. As matter of fact, the representation of Europeans on the media does not indicate roses and sunshine but a form of optimism on the European media. It is the strong interdependencies foster presentation of myths about the shared European identity.

Identity on the basis of Assimilation

The definition of an ideal European can be assessed on the basis of integration and assimilation. In an attempt to assimilate in Spain, the European immigrants that have migrated to accept and respect the customs and traditions of Europe, but they do not abandon their own cultures in the process (Sibai, 193). As part of the assimilation process, the immigrants do not exclude themselves from the native Europeans, but they respect them and their culture.

The definition of identity on the basis of culture is problematic. Culture tends to change on the basis of an environment. When people enter a new area, they adapt to it, thereby becoming a member of that society. The conformity process seeks to reduce conflicts between them and the residents of the new place (Sibai 195).However, such conformance does not indicate that they belong to the new place. Some of the immigrants feel lonely and alienated. And prefer going back home. Therefore, assimilation is not an ideal foundation for defining a European.

Belongingness to The European Union

Europeanness is also built on the idea of belonging to EU.To be included into the European Community (EU), it was necessary for a country to possess two components of political identity; (1).The cultural one, which entails belonging to a perceived shared culture, value ethnicity and religion and a civic component which entailed identifying oneself with political structure, institutions rights and riles of the European political community (Ceka and Sojka, 488). However, not all nations prefer to belong to Europe. For example, many Spaniards agreed to become signatories of EU in 1985 because they wanted to belong to the club of democratic and developed nations of Europe after being isolated for half a century (Akalrcon 334).

However, the membership translated to structural changes in the country’s economy. In 1995, most Spaniards began opposing belonging to the European Union because of the negative influence to the economic integration on sectors such as agriculture, fishing, ship-building of the country, which predicted danger to the economy of the country as a result of dismantling of the country’s productive capacity (Menendez-Alarcon 335-336). Other grievances arose that Spain was getting the least important positions in the (p.337). Later, some countries such as Spain agreed that EU is not meaningful to social action and participation but a distant and vertical power seeking to defend other countries from uncertainties of globalization.

Cognitive Differences

The differences in the perceptions about belongingness to Europe among the nations that make the European continent differs greatly. While central and Eastern Europe citizens depict attachment to Europe, they still have difficulties with seeing themselves as European. On the other hand, more people from the new EU member states such as Hungary show more attachment to EU than old members that are from the West. Therefore, the supranational identification seems to have no end (Ceka & Sojka 493). Moreover, older people are more likely to identify themselves as European in the West of Europe than the East while younger people are more likely to identify themselves as Europeans that the west.

What is more, socialization and meanings about Europeanness that are created in the minds in the earliest years of life play a crucial role the formation of the European identity (p.496). Children that identify themselves as European are more likely to the continent geographically and know about Earthen geographic image facilitates perceptions about European identity default and banal identity acquired by living in Europe. Those that do not want to associate with Europe such as the Bulgarian children have little knowledge about the continent and EU and perceive it as a political entity that is exclusive having high living standards and with distant political elites (Slavtcheva-petkova &Mihelji 580)

Conclusion

In conclusion, a broad body of research reveals that the European identity is a myth. The media uses the identity to demonstrate a particular culture and instill hope among people. However, snot all people like the culture of Europe. Immigrants assimilate to reduce conflicts with the natives. In addition, the formation of economic blocs has been antagonized by nations that celebrated it because it sought to address the interests of specific nations while leaving out others. Thirdly, claiming that the European democracy is founded on a unique religion (Christianity) is a myth itself. The religion originates in the middle East. Lastly, the intensity with which the residents of the European continent refer to themselves as European differs greatly based on geography, and age.



Works Cited

Ceka, Besir, and Aleksandra Sojka. "Loving it but not feeling it yet? The state of European identity after the eastern enlargement." European Union Politics 17.3 (2016): 482-503.Print

Madeley, John. "Grit or pearl? The religious factor in the politics of European integration." Paper for the ECPR 35th Joint Session of Workshops, Helsinki. 2007.

Menéndez-Alarcón, Antonio. "Spain in the European Union: A qualitative study of national identity." INTERNATIONAL journal of CULTURAL studies 3.3 (2000): 331-350.Print

Slavtcheva-Petkova, Vera, and Sabina Mihelj. "Europe–a default or a dream? European identity formation among Bulgarian and English children." Ethnicities 13.5 (2013): 565-583.Print

Sibai, Salam Adlbi. "‘Sometimes I am Spanish and sometimes not’: a study of the identity and integration of Spanish Muslim women." Research in Comparative and International Education 5.2 (2010): 185-204.Print

Wiehl, Anna. "The myth of European identity." Identities in Media and Music 5.1 (2014): 13.