Unit 1: The Selfie

Writing Workshop / Making an Argument

Recall the 5 points of a successful introduction:

1) Establish the paper’s main aim, objective, task: what is the purpose of the paper? what will it “do”?

2) Engage the key text(s) at hand—in this case, the key texts are the images as well as Phelan’s essay and the popular publications that you are bringing into the paper.

3) Highlight your intervention into the key text(s). The intervention is your argument. A strong argument is one to which you could imagine offering a logical counterargument. Generally speaking, strong arguments are specific and nuanced. Weak arguments tend to make vague, evaluative statements that are not backed up by evidence. (For instance, a weak argument might claim that “the selfie is more adept at capturing the essence of a person’s individuality than the self-portrait;” a stronger argument would say specifically HOW the selfie does this and HOW the self-portrait fails to do this and, moreover, it will suggest that this is evident in the given images)

4) Avoid summarization of the text(s), assignment, key ideas, etc. No need to give general back-ground info on the selfie unless it is contextualized in an provocative way.

5) Entice your reader! To entice your reader, your argument should motion towards what I call the “so what?”. The “so what?” is the (rather implicit) identification of why your ideas about this topic matter. Another way to think about this is asking “what are stakes here?”

Note: An introduction does not have to be limited to a single paragraph. In a 5-7 page paper, an introduction should not exceed a page of text.

Instructions: Read the three introductions below. With your partner, talk about each introduction using the five points of a successful introduction to guide your discussion. Mark up the introduc-tions. Highlight where you see these points taking place. Joint down some notes about what the introduction did most successfully and where there is room for improvement. Be prepared to dis-cuss your findings.

Example #1

Just as the democratization of government followed the enlightenment era, the democrati-

zation of information, art, and music has followed the information age. Social media has not

only lent itself to the distribution of information about our daily lives, but other social network-

ing sites like SoundCloud for music, deviantart for artists, fanfiction.net for a subset of writers,

have allowed for the worldwide distribution of our art, literature and music. However, social

media combined with the advent of the digital cameras found in today’s smart phones, has re-

sulted in a new form of social expression: the selfie. In many ways, the selfie shares a place with

self-portraiture, in that it is a picture of the self. Their similarities run further than just this, they

run into similarities in purpose, and interpretation. But in their similarities, there are fundamen-

tal differences. Their differences can be highlighted as differences in intent, content, composi-

tion, and perception. The interplay between these different facets of a photograph leads to the

following distinction between the selfie and self-portraiture. The self-portrait uses the self as a

medium to explore concepts and ideas beyond the self, a selfie features the self as its subject in

order to explore the self that it documents. So this is not to say that a selfie cannot foray into the

realm of art, just as it does not mean that self-portraiture cannot explore the self. The distinction

lies in those four facets of intent, content, composition and perception. For the purposes of this

essay, Francesca Woodman will be our representation of self-portraiture, and a person of

celebrity status will be Kylie Jenner. Francesca Woodman was chosen for the scope and volume

of her work, her modernity, and familiarity with her work. Kylie Jenner was chosen because she

is the celebrity with the most selfies; so conceivably, she will be most practiced in the art of the

selfie.

In terms of analyzing the content of the two respective forms of photography, it is easiest

to look at examples. In looking at the self-portraits of Francesca Woodman, and the selfies of

Kylie Jenner, there is one similarity in content that immediately comes to mind: the self. They

are both in their literal form, photographs of the self. In each of these sets of photographs it is ev-

ident that the story of self, and that the self plays a major role. Although Francesca Woodman’s

photography can be seen as addressing larger topics, Woodman makes an interesting statement,

she referred to her pictures as “diary pictures” which indicates that perhaps they simply do just

document and explore the self. A selfie can be seen as documenting, exploring and intimating

similar details about the self, feelings, context, and other details of the pictures contribute to the

self that it is portraying. So then, if I am to claim that there is indeed this artistic distinction,

where does it lie? Perhaps it does not lie within the content of the photo. But, most humans

when looking at a work of self-portraiture would say that the content is substantially different

from a selfie. And this distinction can be found in another quote of Francesca Woodman’s, in

her photographs, she said she “was inventing a language for people to see the everyday things

that I also see … and show them something different …” To rephrase, Francesca Woodman was

showing people to see the world through her eyes. This is where the selfie and the self-portrait

diverge. The self-portrait shows the world through my eyes, whereas the selfie shows my world

through my eyes. This then goes back to shed light on the idea of “diary pictures”, for if a diary

is looked at, we see a world not just of intimate details of one’s life, but thoughts, musings, ob-

servations. This is what makes the marked difference between the self-portrait and the selfie,

this distinction between the world through my eyes and my world through my eyes. Even if a

selfie is taken as a part of a historical event, it still has the self in it. It is not an exploration of the

impact of that event on my world; it is the exploration of the impact of that event on my life, and

the self in relation to that event. This goes back to the essential idea: the self is used as a

medium for exploration of greater topics in the self-portrait, and the selfie documents and ex-

plores just the self.

Example #2

Art is defined as: the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination,

typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated pri-

marily for their beauty or emotional power. There are many pieces of artwork displayed in gal-

leries and museums that are self-portraits, however no “selfies” have ever been presented as art

in these locations. Does this mean that selfies are not considered art? Francesca Woodman is one

well established self-portraiture artist who completely exposed herself figuratively and literally

in many of her photos. James Franco is an actor, director, and writer who has been deemed the

“selfie king” because of all the selfies he shares on the social media app Instagram. According to

the Oxford online dictionary, a selfie is a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one

taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website. Analyzing James

Franco’s selfies and Francesca Woodman’s self-portraits reveals many parallels that stand as a

basis that there is a genre of selfies that do stand as an art form.

Being an artist requires the artist to take risks and be vulnerable. It also entails creativity

in staging a photo and shooting it. Since Woodman used the self as a medium for her art, she

made her self extremely available for all her imaginative ideas. This was a huge risk for her. She

put her body and face out there in order for others to look at and listen to what she had to say by

a certain photograph. Some selfies I have encountered through social media and the internet

could actually be described similarly as I have described Woodman’s work. I agree with Franco

that sometimes selfies are “marks of vanity” but that they are “tools of communication” between

the photographer and the audience. Posting a selfie on social media is also a risk because the

photographer is taking a risk by documenting a photo of themselves in infinite space and chanc-

ing criticism, exposure, and judgment. They are exposing themselves to the vulnerability of

reaching for someone else to see things like they do or how they see themselves comparable to

what a self-portrait artist does with their work.

Within the genre of the selfie, I think there are several sub-genres that can be categorized

as a self-portrait. There are the vain selfies which are simply a pretty face with a smile or the

“duck-face” pose selfies and then there are out of the ordinary selfies such as a makeup-less

selfie or selfies where the person is hiding behind a mask literally or figuratively. For example,

hiding ones face behind sunglasses or makeup. The later version of the selfie in my opinion is

considered art because of the reasoning behind it. These selfies are probably not taken in a split

second. Most of these kind of selfies involve the person finding the right background, angle,

lighting, and pose to evoke a certain emotion and reaction from the audience. Today’s generation

are taking more “artsy” photos than usual. It has been said that Instagram is a true art form for

this generation. People analyze and agonize over which photo to post, when to post it, which fil-

ter to choose, and what caption to write under it. Mess one of these up and it costs you “likes” on

your photo. All these factors play a role in the art of the selfie. Woodman most definitely went

through some of the criteria of taking a selfie while setting up her self portraits. In all her photos,

every single detail is assembled for a reason. She dedicated her time and her body and went to

great lengths to set up each and every photo exactly how she wanted it. One example was shown

in the documentary The Woodmans when it showed footage of Woodman exploding flour all

around a room while lying on the ground so that there was an outline of her body where the flour

didn’t settle onto the floor. Woodman went to great lengths to create this photograph. She set up

a scene and waited for the perfect lighting and made a decision on where to position the camera

in order to get the desired outcome.

The selfie can undoubtedly be classified as art, however it does push on the boundary be-

tween what we want and don’t want to call art. When juxtaposed next to a high art self-portrait

the differences are evident, but not in a way that we can justifiably define one as art and discredit

the other to not be so. The comparison of a selfie to high art self-portraiture is like comparing ap-

ples to oranges. They are distinct forms of photography, because of the artistic intent; where the

artist in a self-portrait is much more deliberate in trying to communicate with an audience. This

divide becomes more clear because of the connection that photographer and viewer gain from

high art self-portraits. Take for example these side-by-side images of high art portraits by

Francesca Woodman and the classic duck face selfie.

Photographer: Francesca Woodman Source: Guggenheim.org

Photographer: Kendall Jenner Source: Celeb-selfies.com

Clearly Woodman’s photo is more deliberately artistic, but that only creates a different

experience. Society has placed art as something sacred and almost religious (for some like Betty

Woodman), which is why we only want to classify art as something overly profound and mean-

ingful. I do think Woodman’s portrait is more profound and meaningful, but that does not mean

something as simple as the selfie is not art. The duck face selfie may be “ugly” in terms of soci-

etal artistic standards. We choose to neglect bad art, which is why when we see something like

the selfie, we scratch our heads as to why this can be classified as art. That is part of the beauty

of art, because it can be categorized as really everything that has form, from the work of

Francesca Woodman to the duck face selfie (even if we don’t want to accept that). Both the selfie

and the high art portrait are respective art forms, but a selfie can become a high art portrait.

Example #3

The distinction between a selfie and self-portraiture is derived from the deliberateness of

the photographer. When looking at Francesca Woodman’s photography you can sense this real,

genuinely artistic process. There is a distinct feeling when viewing her photo as compared to the

duck face selfie. This creates a connection between Woodman’s photo as if you felt like you are

in the room or can put action into the photography. The opposite can be said for a selfie , because

it creates a disconnect between photographer and viewer. The duck face selfie doesn’t cause any

reaction, besides it feeling as though it is simply another picture. The relationship stops at this re-

alization, because we are mentally trained to push away “bad” art. Woodman’s work speaks as

more than a photo. The viewer can feel this real gloom and darkness. This notion of a “link” be-

tween photographer and viewer was discussed, in Peggy Phelan’s Francesca Woodman’s Pho-

tography: Death and the Image One More Time, by the author Jean Lapanche. Phelan using the

ideas of Lepanche wrote, “Belated interpretation is the hallmark of afterwardness. Not as

charged as a flashback, which overwhelms awareness of the present tense, and more charged

than “regular” memories, afterwardness allows us access to the copresence of the past and the

present in the same moment” (Phelan 981). This quote discusses the belief that photography al-

lows a viewer to tap into a certain sense of recognition with the photographer. For a brief mo-

ment the self-portrait can breathe life into the photographer, but only through the mind of the

viewer. This special bond is something that distinguishes Woodman’s and other high art photog-

raphers work from just a regular selfie. That feeling that there is some sort of communication be-

tween the viewer and the photographer, when a selfie evokes this sort of emotion and feeling,

that is when it becomes high art self portraiture.

Photographer: Francesca Woodman Source: Onlyoldphotography.tumblr.com

Photographer: Alexa Chung Source: thefashionspot.com

This selfie photographed by Alexa Chung, for example, is worlds different from the duck

face selfie. There is more structure and the viewer can feel the artistic intent. This can be classi-

fied as a high art self-portrait much more than a selfie. Calling it a selfie does not do this photo

justice, which creates an odd gray area between what can be deemed a “selfie”. Although this

photo meets all the standards to be deemed a selfie, it should not be labeled as such. The relation-

ship between the selfie and high art self portrait is like that of a square to a rectangle. Every

square is a rectangle, just like every high art self portrait is a selfie, because each meets the crite-

ria to fit the other. However you shouldn’t call something so evidently rectangular a square, just

like how this photo should technically not be called a selfie. When comparing Chung’s Photogra-

phy to Francesca Woodman’s the real difference that comes into question is artistic style. Much

more so than artistic intent, which is the differentiating point between the duck face selfie. In the

end it does come down strictly to personal interpretation to consider a selfie a high art self-por-

traiture.