Self-Image and Social Media: A Critical Look

Its been a while since I wrote this piece, but it has still it’s relevance.

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I am sitting in one of the countless trendy cafés in fancy Canggu, Bali, trying to think about what to do with a blog and which article I could publish first. Something profound, meaningful at least but funny as well. However, of course not too analytical. Who wants to read something deep in these days?

However, all I can do is observing two very young, very fashionable girls taking pictures. Both well prepared for a semi-professional session; they have smartphones. First, sitting on a yellow, throne-like chair, only here for that kind of purpose. Like professional models they try to do the well-known poses: left hand on the chin, smiling shyly. Smiling a bit more, duckface. Changing spot to the front of a plant, followed by a spot next to a small balcony, then, switching to the other girl. Same poses for her. Between the changing settings and postures both are permanently busy with correcting their hair, checking pictures followed by discussing them before continuing with another go. Same pose, same look at the camera, same backgrounds. Straightening hair, switching places, first girl one followed by girl two. With freshly straightened hair, girl one sits back at the table, this time with her right hand on the chin, looking up to her partner in crime and the cam, trying to face both seductively but still in the shy pose of just a young girl. Just try to imagine those filter they’re probably going to use. Yes, the job of a model truly is exhausting.

Together, both must have taken hundreds of identical pictures while I was eating a tasty rainbow chia fruit-something, feeling my belly growing bigger with every bite, nevertheless already thinking of dinner. While they still haven’t finished taking the same uninspired pictures, presumably for Instagram, moving gracefully from one side to another, I start thinking.

Nowadays, that basically everybody can be a model and photographer as even cheap equipment is quite good, nothing is original anymore. My second thought, though, is about the never ending self-reduction of women. Meaning, so it seems, a lot of women are still content to be just a pretty accessories rather than liberating themselves from an one-dimensional restriction that is, after all, rather an expensive one indeed.

Women still seem to believe that they are more desirable when their preferable occupations focus on outfits and styling. For some, it really is the only, at least, the main interest. What a waste of time and resources.

And to be sure to make it right, one copies the style of someone else, going to locations that are recommended. Therefore, millions are reproducing rather than creating. Let’s all produce the same shit! All it needs is a phone and a dress.

Copying things that already work is kind of smart, though. Why investing in original creativity when the results aren’t guaranteed? To attract traffic, it needs to meet demands.

The more freedom we gain in terms of equality and possibilities – does is make us any more confident? Aren’t we living in a world where we become afraid of being individuals? Is that why we follow recommendations and let magazines tell us what to wear and when? New trend: ridiculously large fake eyelashes that give the appearance of a cow. Above all, they all look exactly the same because they are using the same filter. Filters that make adult women look like little girls, and little girls look like little Lolitas. Stars across the head, hearts around the head, big fake eyes, big fake lips, face in the shape of a heart. Silly, ridiculous but damn successful. In 2019, it is still shocking that most of those blogs run by women are mainly on beauty, fashion and lifestyle. More than a century after the first women’s movement and 100 years since the achievement of a political voice, and in times of a misogynist in the Oval Office who’s only role for women is being the silent beauty next to him who has to shut the fuck up when he grabs her by her vulva!

Only out of protest, I order a carrot cake although my tummy started hurting. Anyway, you only live once and I do love a good cake. (There are probably two ways I once will die: being hit by a car (or scooter) or because of too many cakes. I blame my beloved grandmother for this dangerous passion. She was just too good at baking.)

Still not finished with their session, I start to observe them more obviously. Both are dressed in a white blouse, and while the one wears a beige culotte the other wears a beige skirt. Both pretend to be without any flaws, showing an arrogant, nevertheless, put-on self-confident smile. Both try to be someone, both want to be perceived in a world where every little thing in life is charged with importance. Thank you modernism for making everyday objects an object of design. The earth is falling apart but we focus on the perfect setting of our living rooms.

The two girls focus on their perfect look. And the more they start to look influencer-ish the more I start to look deeply thoughtful: Left hand on my chin, face tilted up toward the sky, raising my eyebrow as if I’m contemplating something deep, while secretly watching them out of the corner of my eye.

I mean, it is easy to judge them – two young girls who grow up in a world filled with shows telling them how to look – while, just two hours earlier, I was seriously considering buying a dress for 2.195.000 IDR (that is about 137 Euro). I never spent more than €100 on a dress in my entire life. I was also infatuated with the superficial, good-looking surroundings. In the very small world of Canggu, a former fisherman‘s village that has become what it is today in a very short period of time, there are so many urban stores that it‘s hard to decide where to go (but actually all offer pretty much the same for the same price, so calm down, you won’t miss anything). Just follow the pretty flow. However, I decided against it because what I don‘t need and what I can’t carry in my 40 l bag for the following months, I won’t get. And, yeah, to be damn honest, I just bought one beautiful dress that I don’t need but that was made for me. I paid around 32 Euro for it. What was I going to say…?

Traveling to a hot spot for influencer is kind of tricky but funny at the same time. While you wake up getting dressed for the day without even thinking about it and still receiving all the looks from women who have clearly spent a lot of time choosing their outfits only for that time of the day and having invested in their bodies too. I’ve never seen so many women that have undergone cosmetic surgery like I did in Bali.

I mean, it was fun watching those two BBFs in similar dresses on one of the many swings in the beautiful, human-made natural wonder that the rice paddies of Tegelalang are. It’s astonishing to see the Disney Land-like sold-out atmosphere, because every picture I saw of it before visiting actually gave the impression of peaceful silence. Instead, attractions are placed right next to each other, literally. And most notably, you’ll find a bicycle suspended on a rope that leads you across the valley. And more attractions to draw the attention of eager visitors, so everyone can capture the same picture – something for which you have to pay an overpriced ticket that grants you around five minutes and about 20 swings. Of course, you’ll find women dressed in colorful robes, blown by the wind. You know these kinds of images…

All of that has nothing to do with those embarrassing photos of family albums created before Instagram and the digital era. Naturally, these also feature millions of people on vacation, posing awkwardly in front of famous sights like the Eiffel Tower and many other must-see attractions around the world.

Not planned to be published, though, those pictures were taken to capture a unique moment in life. They were private souvenirs, not a business. The difference between them is that most of them display a normal level of lacking any creativity, but instead showing emotions. Most of them were poorly made because artistic quality didn’t really matter: they featured fingers over the lens, lacked any composition, and the models were just their children in weird 90s outfits…

The plagiarism on Instagram, on the other hand, has a significant impact, as the circulating pictures help to propagate outdated stereotypes and even solidify them—all in pursuit of supposed monetary success. The idea of self-reduction as a quick way to get rich and famous truly requires no genuine creativity.

Cheers,
Nicole

(May 2019)

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January 2020
Just recently I discovered on Instagram a group of female photographers called Bell Collective, named after Gertrude Bell, female traveler at the beginning of the 20th century. They want to show that also women on travel are up for hiking and exploring nature not only for the perfect tan. They started because they were annoyed by the (self) presentation of women on social media like Instagram. I can‘t stand how women present themselves on Instagram either. So, to me the Bell collective is a revelation!

*all pictures copyright by Nicole Guether