Question for the reader.
This is not an essay, but a question. I adapted it from a Twitter thread.
Is there a word to describe "reality-distorting visual media"? Some visual media isn't sexual per se but still has the intention of making people think of things in a way that doesn't accord with reality.
I'm thinking of, for example, Instagram accounts that inspire people to eat less than their bodies require in order to function normally ("thinspo"). Another example would be conspiracy theory media which deliberately edits photos or falsifies screenshots or edits photos of what happened at events in order to promote an idea, which the creator does in fact want to promote (not as a joke.) Pornographic media and fashion advertisements which heavily digitally alter photographs of bodies would also fall under this category; as well as the weird rule-34 derived cartoons in "cal-arts style."
I have thought for a while that the purpose of a caricature or cartoon is to strip a movement or object down to its essential elements to show what that object or movement is, at its core. All of these visual media do the opposite: they strip away the essential characteristic of a thing in order to show an element of it that is attractive but dangerous in isolation from its essential element.
For thinspo instagram accounts, that means that they take "a lean and muscular body for the sake of being able to work in the world" and strip away "for the sake of being able to work in the world" so that all that is left is "leanness." Conspiracy theory media takes "seek the truth, no matter who it harms, about an important topic" and strips away everything but "topic", including (crucially) "seek the truth." I don't really need to discuss porn and fashion, which have been done to death. They leave out the meaning of sexuality: union resulting in children. I honestly haven't watched a cartoon in probably ten years so I don't really know enough about the new cartoons to discuss what specifically is wrong with them. But I suspect that in general they take something which is fine and remove the good element of it, with the intention of distorting reality in some way.
I think "dysmorphia" is a really useful concept for this idea as it relates to a soul's relationship to the body, but I would like to be able to label visual media specifically intended to either promote some kind of dysmorphia or some other kind of intentional reality distortion.
Let me know if you think of something.
Is there a word to describe "reality-distorting visual media"? Some visual media isn't sexual per se but still has the intention of making people think of things in a way that doesn't accord with reality.
I'm thinking of, for example, Instagram accounts that inspire people to eat less than their bodies require in order to function normally ("thinspo"). Another example would be conspiracy theory media which deliberately edits photos or falsifies screenshots or edits photos of what happened at events in order to promote an idea, which the creator does in fact want to promote (not as a joke.) Pornographic media and fashion advertisements which heavily digitally alter photographs of bodies would also fall under this category; as well as the weird rule-34 derived cartoons in "cal-arts style."
I have thought for a while that the purpose of a caricature or cartoon is to strip a movement or object down to its essential elements to show what that object or movement is, at its core. All of these visual media do the opposite: they strip away the essential characteristic of a thing in order to show an element of it that is attractive but dangerous in isolation from its essential element.
For thinspo instagram accounts, that means that they take "a lean and muscular body for the sake of being able to work in the world" and strip away "for the sake of being able to work in the world" so that all that is left is "leanness." Conspiracy theory media takes "seek the truth, no matter who it harms, about an important topic" and strips away everything but "topic", including (crucially) "seek the truth." I don't really need to discuss porn and fashion, which have been done to death. They leave out the meaning of sexuality: union resulting in children. I honestly haven't watched a cartoon in probably ten years so I don't really know enough about the new cartoons to discuss what specifically is wrong with them. But I suspect that in general they take something which is fine and remove the good element of it, with the intention of distorting reality in some way.
I think "dysmorphia" is a really useful concept for this idea as it relates to a soul's relationship to the body, but I would like to be able to label visual media specifically intended to either promote some kind of dysmorphia or some other kind of intentional reality distortion.
Let me know if you think of something.
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