Abstract
Since Iaia first used a looking glass to paint her self-portrait in ancient Greece, the mirror has been an icon of feminine self-knowledge and self-representation. Christianity further linked the mirror to morality—a visual reminder that beauty is fleeting and vanity a sin. In successive centuries, countless portraits of women holding mirrors cautioned against pursuing visual beauty devoid of virtue. This paper considers the cell phone as a dysmorphic mirror, one perversely able to reflect the empirical image (what one actually looks like via the camera’s mirror mode), the normative image (pictures across the internet as points of infinite comparison), and, due to myriad face-altering applications and filters—the utopian image (how one might possibly look with superficial or surgical interventions). As it has throughout history, this mirror seduces the young, offering discontent adolescents a glimpse of their potential physical perfection. The way in which such applications as Facetune ostensibly “idealize” the user portends a dystopian preoccupation with self-image that even Narcissus couldn’t have foreseen. Many applications school the user in the deficiencies of their features, and thus function as blueprints for future surgeries or other unnecessary biomedical interventions. Others posit that certain jaw structures or nose widths are statistically proven to be more feminine or masculine, which exacerbates psychological anxiety about whether one’s physical appearance corresponds to one’s biological sex. Whether the resulting images make one look better or worse, they all induce a form of dysmorphia in the user, and serve as gateways to a relentless dissatisfaction with the self.
Presenters
Alisia ChaseAssociate Professor, Art, State University of New York, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Cell Phones, Normative, Ideal, Distortion, Self-representation, Technology, Gender, Mirrors, Reflection
