Introduction: From the first time riding a bicycle, to brushing your teeth every day, to the last time seeing a family member, your life is a culmination of experiences. We define experience as the interpretation and reaction to physical and/or mental stimuli. These stimuli are the mode by which identity is organized and inscribed into the brain. Experience, like identity, is cumulative and dynamic; it is made up of trauma, relationships, emotions, memories, and the search for purpose in life. For example, if you stub your toe, you have a physical experience that can be described as physical trauma and if it hurts enough, it will leave a lasting memory. Relationships, whether they be familial, platonic, or romantic, bring with them emotions that can affect the creation of identity. These different avenues of experience help guide individuals to discover purpose in life.
The concept of experience is explored thoroughly in media such as movies, books, and songs. Through analysis of specific pieces of media, connections can be drawn between the different avenues of experience to relate them back to the question “what is identity?” The texts chosen to be analyzed within this concept illustrate how intimately experience informs identity. Whether it is expressed in an animated movie or a rock song, identity is constantly impacted by external and internal forces. In The Parent Trap, for example, the characters’ identities are impacted by the relationships they lose after being separated from their family. However, in the Nirvana song “Lithium” the narrator’s identity is informed by their mental illness and how that influences the labels that are placed on them. These two examples show that regardless of how an event or emotion is experienced, it will have an impact on identity. This connection only grows more obvious through analysis of Disney’s Tangled and Soul and Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse 5, which each present a subconcept that connects to identity.