image courtesy of douglas friedman
by brittyn dion
Casa Perfect
Once owned by Elvis Presley, this Beverly Hills home finds humor in perfectionism. The functions of our world today are fueled by screens, digital posts, and capitalist efforts. Models for domestic living are no longer made during spontaneous face to face encounters or even Sunday evening soap operas. Instead, aspiring frameworks are made in almost every moment, with the unrelenting presentations of ideals through humanity’s novel and constant exposure to marketed media. Between 2010 and 2015, the years in which smartphone accessibility rose, visits to collegiate counseling centers jumped by 30%. In a world where every image can be retouched, every pose can be captured from hundreds of angles, and every sentence can be edited, why wouldn’t the impressionable generation strive to curate perfection to match? It is no secret that mental health disorders have risen in congruence with the rise of social media. Every day the average American social media user is bombarded with images. These images are meant to draw curiosity and intrigue their viewer’s gaze with tempting placements
and visual appeal. After short exposure, the viewer begins to internalize the image. Soon enough, viewers find themselves subconsciously recreating the images, aspiring to their aesthetic asymmetry and meticulous messes. Recent trends push for transparency from the subjects in social media photos. “Natural Beauty” is a term that stems from this push; but, what is natural beauty when a subject can take hundreds of photos, choose the most perfect one, and rely on many free apps to edit the image further? Due to this technological determinism, we are now able to change what ‘natural’ means. Long gone are the days of a quick, candid snapshot’s honest depiction of a lazy beach day. Now a candid picture entails 15 minutes of changing angles and even more time devoted to free tuning apps; the photo tinged rosy with light filters and edges smoothed with a single screen tap. From Glossier advertisements to messy buns and greenery, all Instagram photos captioned with ‘natural’ ooze perfection.
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