For my example of a body practice from everyday life, I chose the "kissy face" with the awkward sideways backwards peace sign (I'm sure there is a proper name for this...but I don't know it). This facial expression has been used by the masses of young adults and teens in pictures as the new "smile". As making this face in pictures became more and more popular, it seemed like it sort of became part of the culture of young adults/teens. If you wanted to look hot in your profile picture, you couldn't just smile...what would really make people attracted to you is the pouty/flirty/kissy/whatever you want to call it-face. It became a face of "cool" culture, especially around groups of girls. As a group of high school girls line up together for a photo together, their eyes are shifty, wondering what all the other girls are going to do in the picture. Finally one makes the kissy face, and within seconds, every girl in that picture is making that face. The more popular this body practice seemed to get, the more it became the norm amongst the culture of young adults. Of course we can always choose what face to make in a photo...right? Or are our intelligible bodies subconsciously posing for pictures in a certain way relative to that of what our culture has shaped us to be...
I have seen this face and for the longest time didn't understand it. My friend (who was known as the "cool" guy) would always do this face, and we'd always make fun of him for it. Then I started doing it to make fun of him, and then it kind of became a thing. At one point, my facebook profile picture had the "kissy" face with the backwards peace sign. I really think that it was more of a docile body attempt at being like my "cool surfer dude" friend.
ReplyDelete"cool surfer dude" pretty much sums it up! It is so weird to think about how things in culture can spread. Like even though we swore it was lame when it first sparked, eventually we end up doing it ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and I think this face is SO unattractive! My mom, when looking through facebook pictures, pointed out how girls would stick out their tongues and make unattractive faces. It dawned on me that doing this face, or contorting your face for pictures in any way, is a self confidence thing. I think that girls especially contort their faces for pictures so people won't be able to judge them, because others won't be able to tell what they actually look like. And they're not putting themselves out there and not trying to be pretty and attractive so there's no risk in being hurt if people dont think they are.
ReplyDeletehaha wow...well put Larisa that is so true! I never thought about it that way but that makes perfect sense. If you are sick of seeing pictures of yourself trying to look attractive and it not working out so well, why not try NOT trying and then no one can make fun of you because you can say you were just being silly. wowza
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