Assuming we live in a performative society what constitutes a worthwhile performance?

The society we live in is grounded by the integration of performance within our lives. Increasingly, we spend our lives entertaining ourselves through the performances of others. We participate in the viewing of performance from the moment we wake up to the moment we return to bed, from the radio and television breakfast programs to the vegetation in front of the television at the end of the day that is prevalent in so many British homes.

Surely a worthwhile performance can only be gauged by the audience and their opinions. Auslander mentions a live performance that was staged to highlight the repeatability of performance and the resulting inward destruction of it. Some may see the worthwhile aspects of this performance, others would ask for their money back.

Nick Bostram debates the idea that we live in a simulation; in which case everything that we do is essentially a performance. Within this simulation we also create secondary simulations of which become so important to select members of our society that they cease to take part in their ‘real’ lives. Although in a world that is simulated there is no ‘real’. So which of these are worthwhile? If we are creating alternate societies through gaming and other forms of simulation then surely these are worthwhile performances, intended to enable the performer to escape into a world of performance where they can loose their inhibitions and exist as they imagine themselves to be.

The internet and sites such as youtube have created a space for the performance genre to be made readily available for everyone and anyone to be involved in a ‘performance’. If a worthwhile performance is taken to be something that is used for entertainment then youtube is its home. For example the footage of a court case found on youtube is essentially a performance of the current attitude of some of the younger members of our society. It becomes a performance staging the change in respect held for the punishment system. Although it is biased to assume that this is an area that has changed rather than an area of which wider society is able to become aware of through the recordability of everyday life. Essentially this recording presumably intended to acknowledge the rebellious nature of the recorder has become a performance of sorts for those who wish to see it in this light.

In short, 300 words is not enough to debate the idea of a worthwhile performance. Unfortunately I believe it impossible for one person to produce a definitive answer to the idea of a worthwhile performance. Surely this is a question dependent on opinion, in which case there can be no definitive answer.