I find the entire concept of a selfie to be very interesting. As the reading discusses, self portraits and selfies aren’t very far off from each other. Both forms of media are a way to capture one’s self in the visual form, though they are held in very different regards. Many individuals, especially the previous generation, lambasted the selfie as vain, self centered, and lacking any degree of value. While the form of the selfie has become so popular that it is more or less ingrained in society, it still gets looked down upon by many and is regarded as a “lesser” form of art. The reading establishes the relationship between self portrait and the selfie, stating that while the self portrait is deliberate, planned, and requires a great dedication of time to complete, the selfie is spontaneous, unplanned, and happens in an instant. It seems that this is the basis for the majority of the criticisms surrounding the selfie, that those who take selfies are vapid and put no thought into it. However, as people have always used advents in technology to express themselves, I wonder if this criticism was made for every form of self expression. Once people could paint, they painted themselves, once people could take pictures, they photographed themselves. Was criticizing artists for making themselves the subject, as opposed to a landscape, for example, always commonplace or is this phenomenon unique to the selfie? I believe that the reason why so many people choose to make themselves the subject of their works is an internal desire to be understood by others, to portray oneself in a manner which encapsulates their entire identity so that, at a glance, a complete stranger could look upon the work and have an immediate understanding of the artist. I also believe this is why the selfie is so popular, it captures our most candid and personal moments without a second thought.
Comments