Guy Incognito

I feel like a lot about me is revealed in my picture. What does it say?

1- There is an injunction to 'be good'.

2- The injunction is enforced (in this case, likely by a teacher).

3- The boy has been subject to enforcement of the injunction.

4- The boy is smiling.

(5- I have chosen this picture)

There's a lot we don't know about the relationships between these four facts, and a lot of ambiguity in the boy's smile. Is the injunction considered legitimate by the power enforcing it, or by the boy? Whose injunction is it? Is it a meme, or a tool of power? What is 'being good'? Does the boy know? The board says 'I WILL be good'- does this mean the boy is still not 'good', but WILL be? (An ominous thought...) Was the enforcement of the injunction legitimate? That is, was enforcement derived from the injunction, or from the enforcer's arbitrary use of power, or was the injunction instrumentalised for other reasons? Would we consider it legitimate now? Finally, why is the boy smiling? Has he understood the good in being 'good'? Has he proudly emerged from the enforcement ordeal unscathed, perhaps smiling a happy 'fuck you' to the injunction, to the enforcer, to the photographer, to us, to everyone? Is he merely smiling as is expected, given the context (a photo)? Or is the boy perhaps a bit simple? And what does it say about me for having chosen it as a representation of myself?

Sure there is an original 'truth' behind this picture, but let's not that get in the way of some possibly interesting bullshit.