Jamie Cossolini

WRRH 205
March 13, 2015
(E)dentity Essay
Bein Famus Iz Hard Doe Lol Haha: Marnie The Dogs
Edentity
With over one million followers on Instagram, sixty six thousand
followers on Twitter, appearances on numerous television series such
as HBOs hit series Girls and CBSs Two Broke Girls, and countless
A-list fans, this Shih Tzu dog named Marnie has not only become an
internet celebrity but is now becoming an iconic celebrity. However,
she did not just miraculously gain her fame and stardom one day like
that of Kim Kardashian. This dog had to work tirelessly for everything
she has become. After being abandoned on the streets of Connecticut
at nearly ten years old, Marnie was rescued by Animal Control in 2012.
After not knowing where her next meal would come from or where she
would sleep, she was finally adopted by Shirley Braha through
Petfinder.com after four months of living at the shelter. Shirley then
brought this frail and foul-smelling dog to her home in New York City
and gave her the name Marnie, after musician Marnie Stern. However,
the appeal to Marnie lies in her lovable physical characteristics and her
inspiring attitude toward loving life. She possesses a signature head tilt
that is caused by surviving an illness called Vestibular Syndrome,
which affects the bodys balance systems and often results in head
tilting, loss of coordination, staggering, and dizziness. Not only does

she have a permanent head tilt, but Marnie also sports an unusually
long tongue that is always sticking out of the side of her mouth that
she has had from birth. However, these health defects do not stop her
from living life to the fullest and cheering up millions of Americans, one
day at a time.

Representation
Since Marnie is a dog, she clearly has very limited opportunities
to represent herself. Therefore, a great deal of her online stardom
comes from her owner, Shirley. It appears that Shirley did not have any
celebrity ties prior to owning Marnie and ultimately networked Marnie
until, to her surprise, she eventually became famous. Although Marnie
frequently gets stopped on the streets because of her adorable looks
and sweet demeanor, her initial online exposure and agency is what
gave her the building blocks to reach this level of stardom. Also,
Shirley only has complete control of Marnies online identity. Once
Marnies presence shifts from online to television appearances and talk
shows, the identity shifts back in Marnies control by the way she acts
and what she actually does in front of people.
Augmentation
As Pramod Nayar claims in his book, An Introduction to New
Media and Cybercultures, he analyses the art of denying agency
online, as he claims how the discourses of multiple, shifting, fluid

identities make absolutely no sense to people like minorities, women,

or the differently abled because it is their embodiment that needs to
be recognized and empowered (16). However, the differently abled
that Nayar touches upon is exactly the fuel that propelled Marnie to
became as famous as she is today, along with effective networking and
branding from Shirley. Because of these unique physical characteristics
that Marnie possesses, there is absolutely no need to conceal anything,
but rather embrace these imperfections. Marnies identity remains
constant throughout her Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts, as
it is often the same pictures being shared on each of them. Although
Marnie herself cannot post to these accounts, Marnie creates all of the
content that Shirley then shares, or brands. Shirley effectively does
so by posting creative pictures of Marnie accompanied by extremely
playful captions, or memes, that suit the picture perfectly. She crafts
these captions by not only speaking in first person but abbreviating
words and misspelling them in relation to what is going on in the
picture, which somehow gives it the impression that Marnie expressed
her own opinions by actually typing or saying that herself.

Ideological and Sociological

As a society, we are often drawn to certain types of people that

transcend the realm on normalcy; extremely attractive ones, like
models and celebrities, and those that have some type of abnormality
that we are not used to seeing and processing on a regular basis. This
curiosity sparks a fascination with the abnormal and encourages our
minds to make sense of what we are seeing somehow. Although Marnie
is not on a circus freakshow level with her deformities, the same
principal still applies and works in her favor immensely, as it adds to
her cuteness and innocence. Specifically in this modern internet
dominated age, animal videos and memes create the ability to turn a
minor distinctive trait or quality into the spectacular. However, it can
be looked at as sad that so many people are getting entertainment
from this dog who has suffered through a terrible illness that resulted
in a permanent distortion. Much like the internets obsession with cats,
like Grumpy Cat or LOLCats, unique pets are now exploding across the
web, and Marnie has officially become top dog, literally. Although there
are many dog Instagram and Twitter accounts, they do not have nearly
the impact that Marnie has. As a whole, dogs seem to be extremely
underrepresented in the digital world compared to cats, which seems
paradoxical since most people prefer to have dogs as pets over cats.
According to an infographic conducted by Kloof.com, which is a site
solely dedicated to sharing pictures of people dogs and cats, it was
concluded that there is more cat content online. It was also found that

cats also generate more than twice the amount of likes than dogs do
in the online platform. In a world that has become consumed with the
amount of likes something receives, this is a pretty significant and
unexpected reality. After all, the saying is not A cat is a mans best
friend. A possible reason why this is could be due to cats overall
sketchy and mysterious nature. However, the cat videos that do go
viral usually catch them doing something unexpected, thus spiking this
curiosity and appeal. Because of this unjust canine
underrepresentation along with Marnies well earned stardom, not only
in a digital platform but in real life as well, she has begun to pave the
wave for future dogs to have a much more vast online presence and
overall influence on people.
Agency, Interactivity, & Significance
Marnie establishes her agency through her social media and
television presence with the help of Shirley. She also has the ability to
directly interact with her fans and followers through Snapchat.
Although Snapchat is still a digital platform, it depicts real life more
accurately since it is representational of what is going on exactly in
that moment. Although Marnie does not need to nor does so, it goes
back to Nayars point of not potentially altering your online identity.
However, this online agency is not the sole attribute to her fame.
Marnie has such a vast impact on our society because of her
lighthearted and irresistible nature that serves as an inspiration and

comedic relief to everyone. When the stress of work or school is

bordering on completely consuming you, look no further than one of
Marnies silly Instagram posts to feel instant ease.
People generally view their own pets, particularly the loveable
nature of dogs, as a main part of their family. Even if someone if
someone in their family has a certain disability or defect, people still
care and love them as if they were normal. This same philosophy
applies with Marnie, except she is an extremely loveable dog, which
makes people even more inclined to show her affection and love. As a
result, many of Marnies followers feel an allegiance for her as part of
this greater notion of holding canines so dear to their heart.