At least once in your life, surely you have watched a Marvel superhero film like Spiderman , right? Or have you ever heard the song entitled ‘ If I Were a Boy ‘ by top singer Beyonce? Or maybe you’ve watched Katy Perry’s music video entitled ‘ Last Friday Night ‘?
If so, are you aware that they show another side or personality called an alter ego? Surely you think that this is just a character created on purpose or for entertainment purposes only. In fact, alter egos do exist in the real world, you know! Maybe an alter ego sounds like a split personality, but it’s not. So what is an alter ego?
Understanding Alter Ego
“Alter ego” is a Latin term that is defined as “the other side.” This term is used as a form of representing another side of oneself through the depiction of a character or alternative version that is consciously formed. Alter egos are generally braver, creatively crazy, gentle, more heroic, and so on.
Alter egos are formed for certain purposes such as coping mechanisms in dealing with trauma, exploring aspects of creativity, breaking free from certain limitations, expressing oneself in certain ways that are not usually done in everyday life, as well as exploring aspects of personality in the process of understanding oneself. Generally, a person creates an alter ego to realize the ideal concept they dream of in their life and is in conflict with their everyday character.
Difference between Multiple Personality and Alter Ego
Alter ego is different from multiple personalities which are usually called dissociative identity disorder (DID) or multiple personality disorder (MPD). The alter ego is formed consciously with the aim of becoming a ‘vessel’ to channel the hidden side of the personality which has the potential to be good but is not usually carried out in daily activities. Meanwhile, DID or MPD tends to form without realizing it and can appear at any time without control. DID or MPD is a psychological disorder which, if not treated properly medically by an expert, will bring harm to the owner of the body. Meanwhile, the alter ego can be controlled and usually appears in certain conditions when facing difficult times, such as overcoming anxiety, fear, lack of self-confidence, and so on.
Example of Alter Ego
Some examples of characters who have alter egos that we might know include:
Peter Parker’s Spiderman
Alter egos are most often seen in superhero contexts. One of them is Peter Parker’s alter ego in the Marvel films called Spiderman . Peter Parker plays a public personality who is depicted as an ordinary high school student who lives with his aunt and naturally falls in love with someone with the initials MJ. Due to an incident, he was bitten by a spider infected with radioactivity, so he has the abilities of a super spider called Spiderman . In this case, the Spiderman character is Peter Parker’s hidden, stronger and heroic alter ego. He uses this alter ego to save the world from various evil threats.
Kathy Beth Terry Belongs to Katy Perry
We can find another alter ego in one of Katy Perry’s music videos entitled ‘ Last Friday Night ‘. In the video, it is told that Kathy Beth Terry is a 13 year old girl who is in 8th grade. She threw a party at her house while her parents were away. Even though Kathy Beth Perry was not unveiled as Katy Perry’s alter ego, this character was a successful marketing campaign for the song. Even Katy Perry created an official parody account.
Apart from that, Katy Perry also made a v-log on her official Vevo account and played Terry.
Sasha Fierce and Beyoncé
Who would have thought that a top diva like Beyonce had an alter ego? Beyoncé’s alter ego is named Sasha Fierce. This alter ego was formed based on the anxiety and fear that he naturally felt as a world-class singer. Beyonce is of course just an ordinary human being who wasn’t just born with the courage to appear in front of hundreds or even thousands of spectators on stage. To deal with this, Beyoncé created Sasha Fierce who is firm, sensual and has the charm of a diva so she can appear confident.
Beyoncé said that Sasha Fierce will appear when she hears a tune or when she wears stilettos.
“When I get nervous and then Sasha Fierce appears, my posture and the way I speak are all different,”
He used this alter ego as a performance strategy until 2012 until he felt he was psychologically mature enough. Beyoncé even titled her album with the name Alter Ego, you know!
Skylark Tylark and Justin Bieber
Not only Beyonce, top celebrities like Justin Bieber also have alter egos, you know! To the point that Justin created a special Instagram social media account for his alter ego, named Skylark Tylark. This alter ego was officially announced when Justin was 24 years old, and via the Skylark Instagram account, he uploaded a photo while partying at the California music festival called Coachella with Bella Thorne on April 18 2019.
Several fans gave him support and positive responses to the debut of his alter ego. This is because celebrities having alter egos is a natural thing, considering that being a public figure with all its demands and restrictive rules is not an easy thing.
The formation of an alter ego can be a positive thing as long as it can be addressed from a good side, such as building self-confidence, channeling creativity in art, triggering oneself to be braver, becoming a friend to ourselves or helping us in the process of accepting ourselves. , that in reality we are just ordinary humans who have all forms of complex emotions and logic.
So how? Do you have your own alter ego?
