I’ve observed that it has become commonplace in visual storytelling to discourage conformity on the account that it erases individuality. After all, it is a valid question as to how we can be contributory members of society if we have nothing unique to contribute — several movies within the past decade address such themes at various intellectual levels. You may call to mind recent projects, such as “Don’t Worry Darling” (2022), or animated films made for younger audiences, such as “The Lego Movie” (2014). The throughline across these films and media is that conformity inhibits creativity, well-being and authenticity. Yet, a consistent pit-fall in the delivery of these messages is that these movies — whether by direction of the actors themselves, the distributors or production — merely suggest the downfalls of conformism instead of confirming them, effectively providing audiences with a justification for their possible skepticism upon leaving the cinema. After all, are movies truly depictive of ‘real life?’
These movies, in short, provide us with hypothetical pitfalls of conformity. What we need, rather, are facts. I feel we must actively drive home the fact that conformity is harmful through the provision of a variety of studies in place of emotionally-backed statements. I seek to expand the sentiment that conforming to group thought patterns and customs is not only emotionally harmful, but has overtly negative, observable impacts pertaining to culture, morality and politics.
In a recent study from Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, it was found that active encouragement of conformity within group settings led members of these groups to perform statistically worse in temporally variable settings. While the procedural notes of the study are fascinating and readily available, I wonder about the potential for such trends to occur in a non-controlled environment.
Children, teenagers and young adults may often hear some variation of the infamous question: “If your friend jumped off of a cliff, would you?” Yet, do we understand the true implications of the dangerous mentality presented by such a question? Of course, we tend to be loyal to our friends, but where does that loyalty stem from? Are we acting in accordance with some innate, friendly bond by following our friend off a cliff or a bridge, or are we simply conforming to the more popular decision by, say, voting for a particular candidate or pursuing a particular degree in college?
While there are obvious risks of physical harm in the provided example, what often goes unaddressed is how blind loyalty and a commitment to “fitting in” among friends or strangers can impact our morals. In a study published by Harvard Business School, such conclusions were drawn through the cross-analysis of cheating behavior patterns between mutually exclusive groups of scholars and fraternity brothers. To little surprise, those participants with so-called “blind loyalty” and therefore no true understanding of the cost of their conformity did not behave morally and were more likely to cheat.
Concerning our culture and politics specifically, conformity appears to have become a weapon of political warfare. Of course, one may call to mind the atrocities of the Holocaust as a wicked push for conformity through the encampment, experimentation and elimination of non-Aryan Europeans. Even still, despite the crucial lessons taught by such events, the political appeal of conformity can still be seen in modern figureheads who strategically utilize voters’ prejudices in their campaigns for their respective municipalities, states or countries. For a recent example, perhaps consider President Donald Trump’s blatant catering to white fear of ‘terrorized’ interracial neighborhoods in an attempt to garner their votes for a more conformist America. As a queer individual, political pushes towards the dissolution of LGBTQ+ rights through initiatives such as the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill in Florida have influenced how I choose to present my queerness. Conformity is thus a tool of domination; the looming cloud of legal repercussions for the outward expression of queerness not only encourages conformity but necessitates it.
Conformity is not simply a matter of following a friend off of a cliff or cheating on a test. Of course, we recognize the consequences that immediately follow these actions. It is our short-sightedness that enables us to conform; we figure that such an action is merely one decision and that we retain our free will immediately after we suffer or enjoy the consequences. However, in our desire to become part of a whole, we subject ourselves to the rule of the majority through conformity. We need to consider the influence we have over not only our own social standing, but also the dominion others can hold over us through conformism. Thus, there can no longer be a question as to whether or not conformity has results beyond emotional dismay. It is a weapon that cannot be easily nullified.
