Throwback to my pre-thesis topic, the statement that I got was: “In social media age, traditional status of images as a way to document the world, has been dominated by “like” economy.” The project is about how the role of image has been shaped by cultures and society from time to time. We started to manipulate images since its very inception. In the past, the main reasons for manipulating are to create power and to persuade the audience to believe in what they want to tell. And now, in the age of social media, it becomes dominated by ”like.” The key question that I got was “as cultures are changing, what is the future’s role of the image going to be?”
As I have been doing theoretical and creative researches, I found that as cultures are changing, technology and media come taking parts, we are still manipulating and use the image to get approval from society. Apart from documenting the world, taking photographs to keep as a memory and keep it with ourselves, when images are about to show in public, newspaper, magazine, or social media platform, we automatically aim to get good engagements and interactions. It can lead to body image creating, how we set beauty standard or concept of beauty. Like is the most prominent social button that shape our interactions and our perception as a reflection of self worth. Engagements and interactions are what we’re aiming for. And it’s scary how important beauty has become. So the key question that I will use to frame my future explorations is “How does “like” in social media influence the concept of beauty?”
The purpose is to reflect on the body image and self-esteem issues that are caused by “like” in social media. The beauty standard and body shaming problems are with us from time to time. Social media are one of the factor that influence concept of beauty. Even though nowadays, people become more aware of this issue, but when we’re fat, we still need hourglass figure type. So I want to challenge the beauty standard. Explore the relationship between cultivation and body dissatisfaction. Reinforces the fallacious beliefs of “how we need to look.”
My target audience are from early childhood to teenager as it is the age that are starting to use social media and interested in how they look. The adolescent period is a time when exposure to these messages can be particularly damaging. The onset of puberty and the ensuing physical changes that this developmental stage brings can lead to feelings of insecurity and poor body image.
