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- Read Susan Sontag’s essay ‘Regarding the Torture of Others’ at Link 7
- Read Alise Tifentale’s essay ‘Making Sense of the “Masturbation of Self-Image” and the “Virtual Mini-Me” ’ at Link 8 This is published by a research group based in New York called Selfie City. See Link 9
The title of this project is interesting. A ‘selfie’ can be both testimony and trophy. “I was here” being the usual testimony ‘selfie’ which appears on Instagram and trophy when one makes an image of oneself with the ‘victim’ of ones actions.
Susan Sontag’s article (1) discusses the Abu Ghraib images of the Iraqi prisoners being tortured by the young American soldiers. These images are not strictly ‘selfies’ according to the Oxford Dictionary definition. The images were made by a third party of the person being humiliated or tortured. But the images were made to be distributed so they do fulfil this part of the definition. It is not relevant to discuss here neither whether the American authorities were complicit in the actions photographed nor whether the actions contravened the Geneva Conventions against torture. We are only considering the ‘why’ this form of image making has become so prevalent and what was the soldiers’ reason for making and distributing them.
Sontag puts forward the thesis that the sexual content of these ‘trophy’ images could have been influenced by the amount of pornography the soldiers have at their disposal on the Internet. Does continual viewing of pornography increase the possibility of normalising it. Sonntag offers no proof that this is the case. I would tend to agree with her that continual viewing of pornography would desensitize a person, which leads to a need to perform similar acts in ones own life. Then the desire to share this performance with others on social media follows.
The percentage of self-images on Instagram is not as high as is sometimes assumed. In the study of five cities, Bangkok, Moscow, Berlin, Sao Paolo and New York the percentage was found to be between 3-5% of the overall number of images studied (3200) (2). Other statistics in this study were not surprising. Selfies are made mostly by people between the ages of 20 and 23. Women post more images of themselves than men. The study was carried out to try
to see beyond the individual agendas (such as the notorious celebrity selfies) and instead notice larger patterns, which sometimes can contradict popular assumptions (2)
Alise Tifentale explores a little further the ‘why’ of self-images. Is it to present an image of ourselves to the world which will encourage people to ‘like’ us or at least ‘like’ the image of ourselves we have circulated. Are we creating a brand #me? The brand #me, when shared, becomes part of brand#us. WE become part of a tribe. Financial and geographical limitations means that the Brand #us is limited to a predefined group of people with the means and the equipment to belong to this group brand #us. I find this scary a somewhat reminiscent of the novel 1984.
But the making and sharing of self images can also be driven by modern technological advances. We can make and post images of ourselves with ease. Everyone is now a photographer and even an artist.The camera is ever present in everyone’s lives. Not all vernacular images will be considered as art but some will. Or some will be made into art in a myriad of ways. I see no problem with that. Campbell’s Soup tins are not very aesthetic to look at but in the right hands…..
As frequently happens in society the practice is ahead of the research. New computerized tools will need to be invented to analyse what and why people continue to post images of themselves on social media. Researchers will continue to analyse and debate if self images are or coudl become art. One way or the other a percentage of smart phone users will continue to make and post images of themselves. it is our choice to look at them and to comment on whether we find them attractive.
- Susan Sontag. 2019. Regarding The Torture Of Others – The New York Times. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/magazine/regarding-the-torture-of-others.html. [Accessed 05 July 2019].
- selfiecity. 2019. selfiecity. [ONLINE] Available at: http://selfiecity.net. [Accessed 05 July 2019].
Digital Image & Culture 