No filter:

Postmodernism &
Instagram

L.O: To investigate how

instagram can be
considered to be pomo.
 The rejection of
verisimilitude
Much modern technology attempts to reproduce reality
as faithfully as possible - high mega pixel cameras and
HD TVs for example.

But instagram does the opposite. It makes no attempt

at a "faithful" representation of what it depicts. By
using lens filters it immediately creates a sense of
nostalgia and collapses indicators of the past with an
image of the present. It is an instantaneous rebellion
against time.
Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for
a period or place with happy personal associations.
 Creating instant past
The range of filters evoke the past.
Some are time specific (1977), some
are place specific (Nashville).
Its a fast, beautiful and fun way to
share your photos with friends and
family. Snap a picture, choose a filter
to transform its look and feel.
(Instagram website).
Time means nothing to instagram.
 There are two forms of representation here real
images and real images that have, however, aged over
time. We are familiar with the concept of an old
photograph.
Instagram collapses the two types of image together so
the new and the old image can exist simultaneously.
There is no need to wait until the photo has distorted
naturally over time. Rather than wait until the
photographs become true signifiers of the past, they
are able to replicate that aesthetic immediately. We can
have the past right now.
This action takes place in the mind and has only been
made possible by the existence and repetition of the
nostalgic image in the first place.
What was once perceived to be the real, a
photographic image, is replaced by a nostalgic image.
This creates something entirely new in the imagination of
the viewer.
 Which
instagram
identity
are you??
 Instagram is the new real. Images that do not have a
filter now have to be specified #nofilter. No longer is the
basic image enough, it needs to be filtered, there needs
to be a time synthesis placed upon the photo
immediately.
There is a fantasy of the past placed directly over the
original image.
The image was never real in the first place: the image
was always just that, an image.
The only difference is that instagram makes no attempt
at verisimilitude but rather embraces nostalgia. And in
doing so breaks free from the confines of time and space.
In this age there is no pretence of the real.
 We accept images of instagram as hyperreal.
However it also exemplifies the way there
never was a real in the first place. With
instagram making no attempt of being an
accurate depiction of what is real and the
images being accepted as, not the
representation, but a representation of reality,
then we must concede that verisimilitude is not
as important as it was once thought.
The false image of the real becomes
hyperreal and replaces what was thought to be
real, because the users recognise that there
never was a real in the first place.
Celebrity and the culture of self-
promotion
27.9 million followers
Summary
- In identity construction process adolescent is trying to
answer the
question: Who am I?
- Social media (Instagram) as a useful tool for identity forming
process:
testing different kinds of roles, values, opinion contrast..
- Good relationships with family and friends in offline world ->
preventing
harmful effects caused by online risks, such as cyberhate
Implications
- Better media literacy for adolescents
- Support and presence of the parents
Key elements of celebrity theory! Culture - Indivual -
Consuming.
Consuming:
Desire engages in two different ways
the aesthetic embodiment
emotional, sexual, intellectual or spiritual identification.
Leaving Daniel with certain expectations
Different ways of categorizing the awareness of the consumers:
Traditional, 2nd order traditional, post modern, game
player/detective.
Very few of Benjamin followers seem to question the reality of the
content - might have
to do with the platform on which they are mediated.
Many seek a consummation of the imaginary relationship. Urge to
be seen by celeb,
which can cause in aggressive behavior.
Daniel must be able to meet the expectation of his followers, while
keeping a coherent
link between his favored self-image and his vertical self. In puberty
this seems like an
impossible task.