THE BEAUTY PROJECT: COSMETIC CULTURE AND ITS REPRESENTATION ON INSTAGRAM
Priyanka Panwar
Assistant Professor of English
Motilal Nehru College (Evening)
University of Delhi, India
Abstract: Transhumanism refers to an ontological state wherein individuals possess “chemically, surgically and technologically modified bodies” (Nayar 13). Jia Tolentino in an article in The New Yorker (2022) talked about the concept of an Instagram face which according to her is premised on a certain idea of sameness and is seen as a corporation resulting in better opportunities and wider outreach in a social media-ridden world. In my proposed study, I intend to study the representations of the body in a tech-mediated culture which results in AI-modified body images and digitally enhanced physicality, thus generating interesting conversations around it. I plan to look at how on the one hand, it leads to an empowering stance on body image issues and on the other, undercuts the notion of body positivity by constructing and propagating a certain body and beauty type which is harvested and disseminated through technology. My study would also look at various intersectional markers for instance class, culture, race etc which influence or govern the privileging of a certain body-discourse. The resulting similarity tends to challenge the idea of differences in a world which is increasingly getting shaped by a ‘trend’, ‘meme’ or ‘viral representations’. I intend to look at a list of such viral representations and trends on Instagram that have shaped our collective understanding of the ideas of beauty.
Keywords: Transhumanism, Instagram face, AI-modified bodies, digital beauty culture, body positivity, intersectionality, viral representations
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