Davis Carr
Toronto Metropolitan University, Media Production, Graduate Student
- Dalhousie University, Deaprtment of English, UndergraduateUniversity of King's College, Halifax, Contemporary Studies Programme, Undergraduateadd
- Autoethnography, Media Studies, Social Media, Media and Cultural Studies, Cultural Studies, Selfies, Digital Media, The Internet, Internet Studies, Communication, and 21 moreMass Communication, Self and Identity, The Self, Feminist activism, Feminist Theory, Feminism and Social Justice, Feminist Literary Theory and Gender Studies, Feminism, Feminist Philosophy, Postcolonial Feminism, Digital Subjectivity, Mobile Photography, Instagram, Iphones, Critical Theory, Visuality, Digital Culture, Internet research, Portraiture, Photography, and Affect (Cultural Theory)edit
Digital technology has revolutionized contemporary society. Mobile devices are the main medium through which individuals understand and experience the world around them. Selfies are representative of this societal shift. They are an... more
Digital technology has revolutionized contemporary society. Mobile devices are the main medium through which individuals understand and experience the world around them. Selfies are representative of this societal shift. They are an entirely new medium, and one that must be understood within the context of digital media. The selfie offers a useful lens through which to understand the broader impact of digital media on society and our sense of self.
My MRP is a exploration of the relationship between technology, identity, and self-expression in the digital age. The selfie is located at the intersection of many complicated forces: the relationship between the body and technology, the smartphone as mode of both archive and exhibition, social media as location of identity formation, and the relationship between seeing and being seen. Selfies function as a mirror through which we understand ourselves and each other. Selfies are about projecting a desired identity to the world — you are creating an image of who you are, and how you wish to be perceived.
My paper will take up issues of visual culture, media theory, structuralism, and post- structuralism to explore these fascinating intersections. I have combined the object-oriented theory of Marshall McLuhan and Vilém Flusser with the cultural studies of Stuart Hall and Michel Foucault in order to situate the selfie within its broader socio-cultural meaning. Feminist theory is crucial to my project of understanding the selfie as a radical act of self-expression. I argue that the selfie’s largely negative reception in popular culture reveals a deeply entrenched cultural misogyny that punishes women for taking up space in public.
My MRP is a exploration of the relationship between technology, identity, and self-expression in the digital age. The selfie is located at the intersection of many complicated forces: the relationship between the body and technology, the smartphone as mode of both archive and exhibition, social media as location of identity formation, and the relationship between seeing and being seen. Selfies function as a mirror through which we understand ourselves and each other. Selfies are about projecting a desired identity to the world — you are creating an image of who you are, and how you wish to be perceived.
My paper will take up issues of visual culture, media theory, structuralism, and post- structuralism to explore these fascinating intersections. I have combined the object-oriented theory of Marshall McLuhan and Vilém Flusser with the cultural studies of Stuart Hall and Michel Foucault in order to situate the selfie within its broader socio-cultural meaning. Feminist theory is crucial to my project of understanding the selfie as a radical act of self-expression. I argue that the selfie’s largely negative reception in popular culture reveals a deeply entrenched cultural misogyny that punishes women for taking up space in public.
