Virtual Surgery in The Society of Spectacle

Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have given access for both the content owner and the spectator to interact using Like, Follow, and Comment. Number of likes and followers are the indicators of a user’s popularity in social media. As if social media is a beauty contest arena, the common practice by social media users is using particular apps to manipulate their physical appearances. Research found that 48% social media users in the US edited their photos to cover blemishes, make their skin look paler, and to look skinnier. Meanwhile, 12% of them conceded that they edited their photos because they did not like to show their original physical appearance in social media.[i] Thus, in the current hype of social media era, the role of beauty photo editor apps on digital lifestyle has become more important than ever.

Beauty Photo Editor Application

In the past, it requires skill which must be studied thoroughly to edit photos or pictures, and it also requires a computer, along with complicated application such as Photoshop. Today, with the availability of sophisticated mobile applications which are accessible in our gadgets, such as Camera 360 and Beauty Plus, anyone can easily modify their virtual appearance in photos or pictures without requiring much effort. These applications miraculously enable their users to modify their face shapes that previously seemed impossible, whether to look gaunt, to brighten their skin color, to remove blemishes and eye bags, or to make their nose looks pointier. Furthermore, these applications are not only useful to change our face shape, but it is also helpful to modify our body. In these applications, only with a few touches on the gadget screen, users can sophistically remove fats which look striking on photos, and it can also manipulate the shape of a skinny body to look more proportional. Hence, the utilization of beauty photo editor is the easiest way to modify our virtual appearance, merely to look perfect virtually and by our self-image fantasy that we desire to show in social media.

One of the most interesting questions about this activity is whether the behavior to manipulate virtual physical appearance is dominated by women. It turns out that the desire to change our appearance on photos is unrelated to gender. A recent survey revealed that unsurprisingly 91% of the respondents said that they had posted their photo on social media. Meanwhile, 47% of the male respondents said that they used an online photo editor to remove wrinkles, whiten teeth, and remove the pesky red-eye, and more than half of the male respondents (51%) use the app to remove their blemishes.[ii]  These facts revealed that the act of editing photos that are going to be posted on social media is not dominated by women who wants to look pretty. More than that, this phenomenon is an embodiment of their individual desires to look perfect in social media regardless of their gender.

The Society of Spectacle

The phenomenon in the digital society, which is merely encouraged by the desire to “perform” in the social media, refers to a phenomenon which has been conceptualized by Guy Debord as “The Society of Spectacle.” One of the most important attributes in this “society of spectacle” is the declining of individual social life from“being” into “having,” and from “having” into merely “appearing.” In the society of the spectacle, life or personal identity changes into a representation which transforms into reality, or in Debord phrase “Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation.”[iii] That dictum can be interpreted as a social condition where the meaning of our life is decided by the fetish interaction among symbols which represents an identity or self-image of a person. In this context, the self-image which represents person’s identity or even their personal life is mostly displayed through a photo or picture.

Seeing this new pattern in social presence, it is apparent that society of spectacle further manifests and materializes in social media. In this digital “society of spectacle,” the higher number of “likes” or praise “comments” will improve their “social existence” and “social recognition” of a performer in the realm of social media. There are many ways to achieve it, from creating a sensational representation of their self-image, to build an anti-mainstream identity, or even to obscure reality, which in this context is by manipulating physical appearances virtually. If the creation of a sensational or anti-mainstream self-representation identity requires brilliant ideas or, occasionally, courage, then to obscure reality, a performer can easily do so by utilizing existing tools, such as beauty photo editors.

It could not be denied that in social media, “beauty” – although its definition is socially constructed – has attracted others to consume our self-representation identity manifested via photos or pictures. A desire to become a performer in social media results in the conscious attempt to create the best portrayal of “the self” mostly via virtual physical appearance, as if the higher number of photos or pictures that receive positive appreciation from “spectator” improves their social prestige and presence. Nobody wants to look bad on the internet. A research conducted by The University of Buffalo in 2014 showed that photos which were posted on Instagram were taken to reflect the best body angles, the best outfits, and with the best facial features placed under the most flattering light. Additionally, people will not hesitate to threaten their friends to delete photos which do not fit their ideal self-image.[iv] If in the past, appearing on television, magazine, or mass media had created a society who are obsessed to be pretty, handsome, and cool, now digital media has given an extensive stage for every individual to perform these obsessions via virtual self-image.

In short, beauty photo editor apps have made it possible to manipulate beauty and also other parts of our body, simply to make us confident in performing our self-image representation on social media. Ironically, referring to the concept of society of spectacle, such extensive attempts to hike up presence in social media is merely to be consumed and judged by viewers, with the user expecting them to give appreciations via “like”, “follow” or “comment”.

picture: pexels.com

[i] The Renfrew Centre. (2014).  Afraid To Be Your Selfie? Survey Reveals Most People Photoshop Their Images Before Posting On Social Media. [online] Available at: http://renfrewcenter.com/news/afraid-be-your-selfie-survey-reveals-most-people-photoshop-their-images [Accessed 24th January 2017]

[ii] PicMonkey. (2015). PicMonkey Survey Reveals Photo Editing Habits of Men and Women. [online] Available at: https://www.picmonkey.com/blog/picmonkey-survey-release [Accessed 24th January 2017]

[iii] Harris, John. (2012). Guy Debord Predicted Our Distratcted Society. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/30/guy-debord-society-spectacle [Accessed 24 January 2017]

[iv] Flemming, Olivia. (2014). Why Don’t I Look Like Her?: How Instagram Is Ruining Our Self Esteem. [online] Elle. Available at: http://www.elle.com/beauty/tips/a2531/how-instagram-is-ruining-our-self-esteem/ [Accessed 24 January 2017]