A brief summary of Bent
Fausing's reading: Become An Image. On Selfies, Visuality and The
Visual Turn in Social Medias
The reading by Bent Fausing looks at the
current and previous meanings of the selfie; it notes, Time magazine
"designates it one of the most used buzz words of 2012"(2013, p1)
However, it did not gain its first definition until 2005 by
Urban Dictionaries, which described it as a "self portrait of
yourself usually by teen girls" (2013, p1).
Fausing defines the purposes of the
selfie as a means of self-reflection “a selfie, is a form of reflection in
which you distinguish yourself from other people and seek recognition of what
is unique about yourself” (2013, p1).
Fausing looks at the rise in popularity
of social media, especially in relation to image based sites such as Flickr and
Instagram; he questions why social media has popularized in the last few years
through considerations such as technological innovation or the idea that we
like to test our social interactions through pictures such as the selfie.
Fausing notes, “many prefer a self-portrait to a written approach when they
want to express themselves…selfies are used as a reflection of our image of
ourselves in which our external face meets our internal consciousness” (2013,
p2) developing on these idea, Fausing believes that our reflection allows us to
reflect upon ourselves and enables us to identify ourselves “through
self-reflection, we step into character and become individuals” (2013, p2).
Throughout the reading Fausing also emphasizes
that the selfie gives us an opportunity to detach ourselves from other
individuals noting that, “we become different from all other individuals
despite the many common features on our faces” (2013, p2) therefore, by taking
a selfie we can observe ourselves and possible interactions with others, we can
also assess ourselves in relation to how we look to others, which raises
questions such as ‘will they accept me?’
Fausing goes on to highlight trends in
social media, being that online sharing now requires less time, social media is
now more visual based and that we have moved from written comments too short
statements or symbols such as the heart symbol on Instagram; Fausing also notes
that the selfie is another significant trend in social media practice.
Towards the end of the reading, Fausing
underlines his opinion that the selfie is not a form of narcissism; he notes,
“The terms are used randomly about anything and everything…these are serious
diagnostic terms that are used in free fall about the new media-because they
are new” (2013, p7) in addition to this Fausing mentions a recent study called
‘It is Development Me, Not Generation Me’ by Brent Roberts who articulates the
following about selfies in relation to narcissism: “The image of a self is important
and necessarily a narcissist tendency. It is necessary for the constitution and
existence of the ego that it receives recognition. Perhaps, that is why so many
have begun to exhibit even intimate moments in selfies” (2013, p7)
Fausing concludes his reading by looking
at what selfies want, he believes a picture of our face and the gaze that our
eyes provide to others is the most intimate communication we as humans can
produce; Fausing believes we display pictures in hopes to be accepted and that the
selfie dissolves cultural and moral norms of staring, as we are from a younger
age that it is not nice to stare. Fausing ends the chapter with ideas from
theorist W.J.T Mitchell who believes the selfie is looking for the following
response by others: “they want to be kissed, that is, they want to be consumed,
they want to be incorporated, they want to be accepted. Pictures want to
interact” (2013, p10). The notion that pictures want to interact is supported
by the comments and likes people wish to achieve by posting a picture on a
social media site such as Instagram, and also by what Fausing mentioned earlier
when speaking about the changes in social media sites, moving from a written
interaction/communication to a visual one.
I found this reading extremely useful
and will be exploring some of the ideas examined by Bent Fausing in my final
essay.
Bibliography
Fausing,
B. (2013). Become An Image. On Selfies, Visuality and The Visual Turn in
Social Medias. Available:
https://www.zotero.org/groups/selfies_group/items/itemKey/HD4VJGS. (Last
Accessed: 5th April 2014).
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