Cyborg (Donna Haraway)
These evolving parameters and definitions of beauty seemingly becoming more intersectional and organic reinstated the rejection of dualistic notions of gender. Linking directly back to cyborg theory and transhumanism which sites cyberspace as a space which eradicates the materiality of our body and its boundaries.
- the manifesto for Gucci A/W 2020 described the cyborg as a ‘paradoxical creature keeping together nature and culture, masculine and feminine, normal and alien, psyche and matter’ (Blanks, 2018) and references Foucauldian discourse (O’Farrell, 2019) to question what identity means in the digital era.
- Include a reference to Marshall McLuhan’s Media theory regarding technology as extensions of ourselves and digital media as an extension of our physical body, therefore our digital selves / digital image is becoming an extension of ourselves which we can ‘dress’.
Performativity
- Performativity – in terms of identity performance for a digital audience and social media (Judith Butler)
- That Poppy – case study
- Cinematography style Pov/ Selfie – self-portraiture
- Virtual simulation of the person you want to be – projection
- Emojis punctuate the text with an action – particular interest in re-situating bodily actions and interactions (Smile, thumbs up, hug, shake hand etc). symbols which denote appropriate gestures or body movements
- An expression of emotion
Glass Bedroom Theory
- Glass Bedroom Theory – Private & Public Space (Erika Pearson likens the way people craft their online identities to the performance of an actor on stage, using the metaphor of the “glass bedroom” to describe social media sites as spaces which are partially public and partially private)
- there is a blurring between front–stage and back–stage: what feels like an intimate space can be under the watchful electronic gaze of a large unknown audience
- Goffman, Erving, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (London: Penguin Books, 2007)
Fantasy / reality
- Kardashians – social media – occupying virtual space and self documentation and also the concept of ‘reality’ shows. I have been thinking about how to create visual references to this – such as shooting someone lit purely in the intimate light of a nighttime laptop screen – lighting someones face up or even from perspective of laptop. I have also been thinking about senses more and think I might start trying to film intimate moments – when someone has just woken up – sleepy blurry eyed and a bit incoherent – at their most vulnerable, but need to explore the logistics and authenticity of this
- The ultimate imagery of popular culture ‘a population undergoing self-regeneration through the powers of tech, Hollywood, Instagram, and Gucci’ (Mower, 2018).
- Physical movement within a conceptual space
- Our perception of space and understanding of reality runs in cycles
Perception
- This is where the name perception spa came from Perception:
- the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.”the normal limits to human perception”
- the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted.”Hollywood’s perception of the tastes of the American public”
- I like that perception is subjective as is identity and it alludes to the idea of how we perceive what is fantasy and what is reality, I also like that it sounds like ‘perfection’ (referencing beauty ideals etc).
- When utilising the concept of beauty to make oneself into an object of beauty, you will need a perceiver – do we embody the role of the creator, the object and the one who’s perception of the performance or outcome determines the identity which is being constructed?
- As well as the perceivers who we interact with in digital spaces, not limited to interact however, these also include the silent observers – who we are aware of. This brings into the mix the aspect of public and private which we project our selves into
Colour grading
I have chosen to use a combination of a Monochromatic Colour Scheme as it is soothing and soft for the viewer, this will be permeated by a Complementary Colour Scheme to create tension. The goal of complementary colour palettes is to create a visual ‘life’ in the frame and are often associated with internal or external conflict. No matter the colour selection, complementary colours combine warm and cool colours to produce a high-contrast, vibrant tension in the film
Ethnographic Research of digital media (societal behaviours and values of Gen Z)
- Whilst examining contemporary sensibilities, through extensive analysis and observations, I have been able to see repetitions and concepts which relate entirely to the modern ideas arising in digital culture.
- Monomass aspect of youth culture – hyper individualism and mainstream trends coexisting
- Integrated advertising
- Beauty Market, in particular Beauty Youtubers and Influencers (Agnes Rocamora) using the internet to create their identity and a ‘brand’ – this then causes a physical reaction (consumption, aesthetic presentation etc)
- Kardashians as a cultural phenomenon – mini case study? ‘Documenting’ their lives although it is still a production/performance – examine this juxtoposition – leading beauty ideals which highly sexualise the female body through surgical and augmented innovations.
- Examination of AR filters and the emerging mono-aesthetic. (links back to research methods essay) – fluid identities and iterations of self
- Mention the changing Landscape of Media – Rise of Video and what does this mean for future demographics?
- In a society heading further down the path of polarization, perhaps our definitions of beauty and fashion are characterised by this. Beauty is either artificial, algorithmic and cosmetic or regards, nature, wellness and health as it’s core principles, but always with the goal of youthfulness. This juxtaposition is a path which I aim to explore throughout this project and is reflected in the practical outcome in multiple ways.
- The lines between what is real and what is not are being blurred in unprecedented ways. Alongside the rise of fake news and manipulated media, the gamification of social interaction (tinder etc), scripted reality television – CCTV style cinematography
- Examine emerging consumer behaviours – call for authenticity and personalisation – moving away from the glamourized construction of the Kardashians? Counter-trend? What does this say about our current climate? What is pop culture indicating?
Particular focus on social Media identity construction through affinities
- Fragmented identities – multiple iterations of self
- The internet has had a massive impact on the way society interacts with one another
- Social media’s role in the construction of identity through personal affinities
- Communicating identities through infinite connectivity – examine the subtlety of digital subcultures – is this down to the multiple iterations of self? Personal affinities link back to fashion and beauty brand narratives / ways of communicating.
- Finding associations and elements of your identity in the far corners of the world – we are no longer limited geographically and the ‘culture of internet’ is universal (although addmitedly socioeconomically the emperience would be dofferent) However it is beautiful when you see ways of dress travelling across the world through the infinite connectivity of the internet and social media. Sociocultural stance
Marshall Mcluhan – Media and the Internet
- The internet is the pervasive and radical nature of mediums, the ability to get right down to the root of how we think about ourselves and our ability to interact with the world – it makes the medium so much more immediately potent than the content that is delivered over the medium.
- personal and social consequences of any medium/ any extensions of ourselves – results from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves.
- Rapid technological change will inevitably alter our lived experience, certainly through socialising and developing our concept of our ‘self’.
- Mediums have a greater impact on the fundamental shape of society than the message that is delivered through that medium.
- Not to discount the power of content and ideas because the idea of ‘medium’ is tied to the volume of the information that they (the internet/ mobile phone) carry.
- What’s powerful is the capacity – mediums extending our capability. Eg, Youtube’s capacity to deliver content. Ideas change our interactions, but mediums change the fundamental scale of those interactions.
- The mobile phone completely reshaped the personal habits and rituals of social gatherings – we have changed the way we think about clothing and its utility to accommodate our phones, for many, the location of the power outlets and plugs all but dictate how they arrange the public areas of the home.
- Mediums reshape social landscape.
- No arguments about ideas should ever be fully divorced from the mediums by which those ideas are delivered and the character of those mediums because more than just the way mediums shape our physical lives, they reshape the very nature of the content they deliver.
- How mediums imprinted themselves into the very fabric of any content that was delivered through them and how persistent exposure to that limitation alters social thought in the same way that the physical television alters the arrangement of the home.
- Nostalgia and memory – particular reference to the physicality of nostalgia (Marshall McLuhan)
- In his classic book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Men, first published in 1964, McLuhan gives a definition of medium in his terms. Any device that is able to change the ways of social life is called a medium.
Phenomenological Research (individuals experience) – seemed particularly relevant as I am examining experience!
- To assess the various theories and observations I gathered during my ethnographic research, part of the data for this project was gathered for the purpose of developing my script. The data was gathered through interviewing various informants over both video and real time chat networks in a semi-structured style, with informal and conversational questions. The questions were open-ended and revolved around the concept of beauty, performativity, identity construction and reality, with the aim being to explore identity and the digital experience.
- How does the user experience themselves whilst occupying virtual space?
- Examination of digital users and creators’ subjective experience of identity construction in virtual spaces – individual interviews
- Enquire about fluidity and fragmented identity, Micro groups and macro groups and beauty subcultures. Particular focus on online and offline identities (does this differ? Authenticity? Alternative realities? Inspirations / community)
This does not express that the participant’s ‘self’ is projected in it’s entirety and we must not assume that
Participant notes that there is an element of escapism and detachment from everyday life and her physical body which allows for an element of exploration and freedom which in that moment is linked to the participants identity and a mode of being which is not frequently explored in physical realms.