[We are] in the midst of a great cultural identity migration. Gender roles are merging. Races are being shed. In the last six years or so, but especially in 2015, we’ve been made to see how trans and bi and poly-ambi-omni- we are.
Morris cites certain cultural examples like Lin Manuel-Miranda's race-flipped historical-musical Hamilton, the success of Transparent, a show focused on a transgender woman and her family, and Amy Schumer's feminist comedy, where she bends conceptions of womanhood, sex, and femininity, as examples of the ways in which our traditional conceptions of identity are shifting. There are, of course, critics of this new age of identity, who express fear that a change in identity politics will contribute to the demise of traditional values. Morris places Presidential Donald Trump in the center of this criticism, arguing that his campaign is built around fear over impending changes to traditional social order. Morris ultimately writes that these transitions in identity "should make us stronger" unless "they kill us first."
As 2016 begins, how do you think identity will shape and inform the events of the year? We will be equally "obsessed" as in 2015? When Morris writes that our new understandings of identity will "make us stronger" what do you think he means? Let us know in the comments, below.
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