May 26, 2007

A wannabe, sometimes spelled as wannabee, is a contraction of ‘want to be’. A wannabe according to Wikipedia is a person who likes to imitate, or even wishes to be, another, but cannot achieve it due to physical, psychological, financial, cultural, political, religious, or mental limitations. Or let’s simply say that they pretend to be someone they are not.

The typical wannabe attitude includes branded clothes and accessories (since they consider local stuff as … ewe), fake English accent (as if they have spent all their life in America) along with the use of slang language, would tag themselves as die-heart fan of rap music (even if they don’t understand a sentence except the punch line of the song), portraying an ‘I am cool’ attitude all the time (actually just trying).

Origin

The term was first used in a July 6, 1981 Newsweek article on surfing that described novice surfers crowding the beaches as wannabees (as in ‘I wanna be a surfer’).The term was popularised by writer John Skow in a spring 1985 Time magazine article about the pop star Madonna. Skow used the term “Wanna Be’'s” to describe the avid fans who like to dress, talk and act like their idol. Other early uses of the term referred to “wannabe” gang members and “wannabe” bikers.

In subsequent years, the contracted form of Skow’s phrase “wannabe” came into wide use and took on something of a pejorative connotation. The term is associated often with ambitious and excessive zeal. The term “wannabe” is sometimes used derogatively to describe young fans of rap and alternative music.

Reasons for turning into a wannabe

Everyone is conscious about his/her self-image; it is a natural phenomenon. Everyone wants to look good, to be admired and appreciated by people and to become a highly appealing person. But like whom? Who are the most admired people in our society? They are the celebrities, the media people. Nowaday’s people consider them as their idols. Thus you can say that media is the main source of inspiration.

Unfortunately, our society has a mindset of following others. Do what others are doing and this is the reason people start adopting certain trends without even realising if it is made for them or not. They think that people would admire them if they act the same way as celebrities. Your favourite celebrity is adopting different styles because it is his job to entertain people and look good. Everything he does doesn’t look perfect. Sometimes he even looks gross in his new style. They act like that because they belong to the media. But why are you acting like them? You should retain in your natural style.

Secondly, following media would not be a bad idea if they would be portraying something good but our media seems to be greatly inspired by the western world and our neighbouring country. Following them we usually forget our culture and values.

Another possible reason of turning into a wannabe can be the hidden insecurities of a person. Every other person in our society is suffering from a lack of confidence in his talents and abilities. He is afraid that he might not be left behind by his friends and surroundings. Also, in our society, the concept of popular crowd is emerging; the ones shown in English movie and novels. Youngsters want to be a part of that crowd. Sometimes when a person is ignored by his friends, the first thought that usually strikes his mind is ‘Maybe I am not like them that is why they are ignoring me’ or ‘I don’t have any personality’ or ‘Maybe I am not cool enough to move with them’. And every time this fear takes hold of him he disguises himself into another person leaving behind his own identity. In order to regain his friends he just blindly follows them without even realising that he is mutilating his individuality.

Consequences

When one is totally transformed into a wannabe apart from ruining his distinctiveness he is causing some other major harm to himself. One of the major problems that he might suffer from is identity crisis. It is a period in the psychosocial development of an individual, causing distress and disorientation due to conflicting pressures and uncertainty about and one’s self and one’s role in society. Such a person is not sure of what he wants in life. To him his existence seems meaningless. He is in an unhealthy state of mind.

Turing into a wannabe also forces you to do unethical things like lying and bragging. Obviously you cannot afford all things that are required to be a wannabe so you have to lie and exaggerate about certain things, which is undoubtedly wrong.

Conclusion

The next time you want to be a part of the so-called popular crowd or you want to adopt the style of certain celebrity think: why are you doing this. Is it because you are trying to hide your weakness by turning into somebody else? If yes, then this is not the solution. If you are not confident of yourself, make yourself strong. Everyone has got beauty; the need is to explore it in a right way. You are unique in your own way. Don’t adopt certain styles just because all others are doing so. Stop being a copy cat. Adopt their style with a blend of yours but never let go of your individuality. So wannabe … yourself?