The Idea of Representation in Selfies

Photo Retrieved from https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/video/representation

Do your selfies reflect or mirror who you really are? Why or why not?

In considering the facial features or physical characteristics, I can say that my selfies mirror who I am in its literal sense. However, do my selfies reflect who I really am? Do they reflect my personality and the characteristics that I have? Personally, I would say that they don’t mirror who I really am.

Selfies are photographs that we take for various reasons. Sometimes, we feel like we are in the mood to take pictures and we feel confident about our appearance at that moment, thus we take a selfie. Sometimes, we take a selfie to capture ourselves in a specific moment that will allows us to keep the photograph and remind us of a significant memory. There are instances that we take selfies just for fun or just to try some new filters. These images that involves our self-portrait can vary in grading, style, and appearance as a whole. However, even if my physical appearance can be clearly seen in my selfies, it doesn’t mean that it reflects who I really am, as a person.  

It is difficult to simply establish a representation based on selfies. All my selfies are very random and I can say that one cannot really depict who I am just from these photos. These photos can vary from fierce look, to funny look, to simple look, to serious look, yet it doesn’t mean that it will just simply reflect who I am. Selfies can also vary from being a representation of ourselves, or merely just a photograph of us. In my case, it is just a self-portrait. 

What do you do to make your selfies more appealing/pleasing/attractive? 

What I usually do to make my selfies more appealing or pleasing is that I take selfies with different kinds of filters in it. I choose a kind of filter which I think is attractive and suitable for the setting. We are all aware that photo-filters give a kind of vibe in our selfies and these can also provide an enhancing effect in our appearances. We have noticed that there are some filters that make our skin clearer and brighter. There are even photo-filters that allows our self-portraits to look like there is make-up on our faces. Filters with clip-arts had also became a popular trend nowadays. It shows our selfies with miniature designs in some parts of our face and these clip-arts give off a mixture of a cute and cool vibe.

Sometimes, I also do manual editing in some raw selfies to enhance the appearance and make the photo more appealing. Raw selfies are photographs that usually doesn’t have any filter and they just involve my bare face. That is why, I add some minor enhancements and edits at some details for the photo to be more pleasing to the eyes. However, at the end of the day, I would still like to emphasize that people are beautiful and wonderful with or without filters. We are all attractive and pleasing in our own ways and that is something that we should embrace and appreciate as a person. 

Would you consider your selfies a fair representation of yourself? Why or why not?

Just like what I had mentioned in the previous question, it is difficult to just simply establish a representation based on selfies, especially when it comes to other people whom we are not really familiar with. For that reason, I don’t consider my selfies a fair representation of myself. In my perspective, they are just random photographs that I take for various reasons. I also believe that selfies have limited signs and other details for us to be able establish a representation.

Even if we take into consideration the filter or the designs that a selfie has, it won’t necessarily allow us to form a representation right away. A dark or gray filter might’ve just been a random choice of a person taking a selfie, yet we cannot establish a firm and clear representation of a person just from that detail. It is stated in the first chapter of Stuart Hall’s The Work of Representation (2013) that “representation is an essential part of the process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture.” Taking that into account, most selfies only shows minor details that won’t allow us to establish a clear process of producing and exchanging specific meanings between each of us. In the selfies that I take and even in the self-portraits that I have in my gallery, they don’t have sufficient signs or details that will make these selfies a representation of myself. Again, they are just random photographs that I capture and hold very minimal meaning.