Like My Latest Insta!

We already talked about the plentiful advantages of when words and pictures are combined--basically how pictures support words in order to bring out a new meaning to them. Sure, having a lengthy amount of text and a picture is nice, as it allows your mind to relax on the whole having-to-imagine-a-picture shebang. For example, in Maus, we can grasp the meaning of the pictures "representing the unrepresentable" (Jim Powell), as the characters are portrayed by mice and cats. Pretty interesting, and it all allows us to understand the argument behind how comics can be for the intellectual.

Taking it to a different level, out of literary context though...what happens when we choose to represent our own lives with photos, with only small captions to back up our "posts?" What a perfect time to bring this up, with homecoming season upon us... 

We all post the same pictures. Us smiling, laughing, hugging our friends and significant other of the month, saying we had an amazing time regardless of how amazing the night actually was. Imagine this: a girl goes to homecoming, her date ditches her for his friends, and later another girl, her steak is overcooked, her feet hurt too bad from the heels, the whole time it's awkward, music horrible, head hurting...she goes home only to realize she wasn't invited to the big after-party, and realizes she's stained her dress. Awful, right? But I can guarantee you the same girl is going to post those cheesy pictures, with her and her people smiling. The caption reads: 3rd round is the best round. Maybe she even adds a heart emoji to go with it! (Edit: before any of my audience starts to conspire, the girl I've described is not me. My steak was beautifully cooked last night.)

Does the picture or few words represent her night in any way? 

Nope!

Our generation tends to use pictures as a way to misrepresent our lives. We all know that the pictures we post cannot be interpreted to reveal the truth. After all, who's going to sit there and sort through all the posts, deciding which smiles are real and which ones are fake? 

McCloud is correct in stating that words and pictures "support each-others strengths." With the perfectly fake caption and the perfectly fake poses, Instagram posts are amazing at capturing who we all truly are: perfectly fake people.


Comments

  1. Izzy MeremSeptember 30, 2018 at 3:32 PM

    Abby, I LOVE THIS! These days, there is no way to tell what is going on inside someone's life and we don't even take that into consideration. Many of us don't realize that there isn't a single person whose life is perfect, and even if a picture or caption says otherwise, there is no way to tell if it's true.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sophia YeeSeptember 30, 2018 at 3:53 PM

    Abby this was such an insightful blog post! It really is the sad truth how misleading people can make their lives seem on social media. Overtime, I feel like the internet has developed a set standard where people feel the need for everything they post to be (literally) picture perfect and happy- even if that's not how they're feeling.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jessica YouSeptember 30, 2018 at 4:16 PM

    I really enjoyed reading this post! I love how you took a tiny snippet of a quote and created a general truth about people today.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownOctober 6, 2018 at 8:08 PM

    HECK YEAH MY LITTLE SISTER FOLLOWING IN MY FOOTSTEPS AS "GREAT BLOG WRITER" (trademarked)!!! Love your use of "significant other of the month" and also YOUR ANECDOTAL POST IN WHICH YOUR VOICE TOTALLY SHONE THROUGH!!! Umich here you come :) Also your conclusion is BOMB.

    ReplyDelete

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