Instagram Face: The rise of selfie make-up and quest for hyper-perfection (2018) • Hacker News Board

Re: Instagram Face: The rise of selfie make-up and quest for hyper-perfection (2018)

#41

Post by Crazyontap » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 9:56 PM UTC

ebg13 wrote: post #2

Because it's The New Yorker, there are no photos in the article. So if you're hoping to learn what "instagram face" actually looks like, you'll have to dig somewhere else.

I think this BBC article about the same is good for people who need the actual visuals:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/5c237a34-7a47-4deb-a5...

Re: Instagram Face: The rise of selfie make-up and quest for hyper-perfection (2018)

#42

Post by seppin » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 9:56 PM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #27

smacktoward wrote: post #22

The key takeaway here isn't that "Instagram face" exists or what it looks like, but that it's a product of two factors: the emergence of less invasive plastic surgery techniques, and of software specifically dedicated to producing these faces. This being HN, the existence of the software is the really interesting bit. It's called FaceTune: > FaceTune, which was released in 2013 and promises to help you “wow your frie…

My favorite FaceTune example: https://www.instagram.com/p/BmnSLiIF-Rl/

Oh that looks awful

Re: Instagram Face: The rise of selfie make-up and quest for hyper-perfection (2018)

#43

Post by seppin » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 9:57 PM UTC

mixmastamyk wrote: post #35

nostromo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite FaceTune example: https://www.instagram.com/p/BmnSLiIF-Rl/

In a few words, wrinkles have been excessively blurred out. Newt looks like a big fat baby Huey.

Also faces squished or am I imagining that?

Re: Instagram Face: The rise of selfie make-up and quest for hyper-perfection (2018)

#44

Post by guelo » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 10:03 PM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #27

smacktoward wrote: post #22

The key takeaway here isn't that "Instagram face" exists or what it looks like, but that it's a product of two factors: the emergence of less invasive plastic surgery techniques, and of software specifically dedicated to producing these faces. This being HN, the existence of the software is the really interesting bit. It's called FaceTune: > FaceTune, which was released in 2013 and promises to help you “wow your frie…

My favorite FaceTune example: https://www.instagram.com/p/BmnSLiIF-Rl/

Warning: if you click that link on some browsers it will remove your back button history by opening a new tab and killing the previous one.

Instagram is aggresively user-hostile and if you work there you should feel bad.

Re: Instagram Face: The rise of selfie make-up and quest for hyper-perfection (2018)

#45

Post by nemo1618 » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 10:11 PM UTC

faissaloo wrote: post #38

brootstrap wrote: post #37

my little sister is (or wants to be) one of these, my wife watches them on instagram. I heard one woman talking about 'instagram brows' and she was just so fucking excited about how great her face and eyebrows looked. Here is this lady with the face (i've never heard it coined like in the article but I know it) and she has (tens?) of thousands of folks staring at her reinforcing the vicous cycle. More views, more fac…

I've found it subtly unnerving and in some way boring how women are beginning to look exactly the same, it's almost like something of comparable virality to the whole flat minimal UI design meme now exists in fashion.

To grossly generalize: Differentiation does not benefit females in the way it benefits males. Being "average" is a safe mating strategy for females, but not for males.

Re: Instagram Face: The rise of selfie make-up and quest for hyper-perfection (2018)

#46

Post by RenRav » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 10:13 PM UTC

ebg13 wrote: post #2

Because it's The New Yorker, there are no photos in the article. So if you're hoping to learn what "instagram face" actually looks like, you'll have to dig somewhere else.

Came to post the exact thing. Not gonna bother with finding it out on my own though.

Re: Instagram Face: The rise of selfie make-up and quest for hyper-perfection (2018)

#47

Post by nemo1618 » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 10:17 PM UTC

reedwolf wrote: post #20

naringas wrote: post #11

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_stimulus

The concept in comic form: https://www.sparringmind.com/supernormal-stimuli/

Here's a weird idea: is music a supernormal stimulus? I mean, I listen to music constantly, every day, and I become irritable if I must go without music for long periods. It would not be a stretch to label this an addiction. Furthermore, music does not exist in our natural environment. You might protest that birdsong qualifies as music, but even granting that, birdsong bears no relation to the highly rhythmic, bass-heavy music that humans seem to prefer. Where did this preference come from? And if music really is a supernormal stimulus, is that necessarily a bad thing? Can a supernormal stimulus be morally neutral, or perhaps even good?

Re: Instagram Face: The rise of selfie make-up and quest for hyper-perfection (2018)

#48

Post by xandyalexg » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 10:17 PM UTC

I think the most interesting thing here is the comparison between these hi-tech options we've got now (FaceTune, cheap and low-invasion surgery) and their lower tech analogues (ie. makeup, haircuts). These hi-tech options may be way more quotidian 10/20/30 years down the line - according to the article, the stigma around the procedures is already diminished to the point where celebrities are willing to promote it. It still doesn't feel like something I'd want for myself, but it's not hard to imagine a reality not too far off where this becomes much more common, especially considering what we know about the positive correlation between conventional attractiveness and fame/money/career advancement.

Re: Instagram Face: The rise of selfie make-up and quest for hyper-perfection (2018)

#49

Post by hkmurakami » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 10:22 PM UTC

Crazyontap wrote: post #41

ebg13 wrote: post #2

Because it's The New Yorker, there are no photos in the article. So if you're hoping to learn what "instagram face" actually looks like, you'll have to dig somewhere else.

I think this BBC article about the same is good for people who need the actual visuals: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/5c237a34-7a47-4deb-a5...

Thank you for this. The before after was striking. I’m used to seeing these contrasts in corners of Asian culture where high levels of makeup are common, but had been unaware of what it looks like in western faces and how prevalent it is.

Re: Instagram Face: The rise of selfie make-up and quest for hyper-perfection (2018)

#50

Post by cafard » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 10:27 PM UTC

klodolph wrote: post #13

ossworkerrights wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they describe it pretty accurately. The idea here is that the face is fake and propped up and pretty identical between “top” users of instagram. That’s a bit worrying.

It may be worrying but it’s not new. What we got from magazines in the 1980s and 1990s is found on Instagram and YouTube in 2020. Now, what’s fun is digging up an old magazine and making fun of it with some friends. You can occasionally find one on Imgur or the Internet Archive.

Years ago, Esquire put Michelle Pfeiffer on the cover, with the headline "For the Woman Who Needs Absolutely Nothing". A little later, Harpers published the retoucher's bill for that photograph, to the great amusement of many. You could look it up at https://harpers.org/archive/1991/01/what-michelle-pfeiffer-n..., but you'll have to pay.