Pre-sessional course 2018

ESSAY

Title: Reflect on how current social issues are represented through contemporary illustration.

Number of words: 1598

Full name: TRAN HUYNH PHU KHANH

Student Number: 1801752

I declare that this essay is my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another assignment,
degree or diploma at any university or other institution. Information derived from the published or
unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is given.

Student signature:

Date: 28th August, 2018

.Figure references:

1/ Jullien, J., 2012. Diner. [electronic print] Available at

< https://shop.jeanjullien.com/collections/le-harve/products/diner > [Accessed 2012]

2/ Picame, 2015. Le illustrazioni di Patrik Svensson. [online] Available at

< http://www.picamemag.com/patrik-svensson/ > [Accessed 17 March 2015]

3/ Steinberg, A., Body Lottery. [electronic print] Available at

< http://annasteinberg.co.uk/index.php/z-test/body-lottery/ >

4/ Cannon, F., Hello Body. [electronic print] Available at

< https://francescannon.bigcartel.com/product/hello-body-a4-print >

 Contemporary illustration plays an important role in addressing the messages of society’s
issues which are represented via newspaper, internet or television every day. Annually the
modern artwork of millions of artists in the world has been portrayed with different perspectives
inspired by the current activities and demands of people. Social media is one of the necessary
aspects of life including material and spiritual factors because of its practical values which can
change the world. However, media issues also can make people worse if the users cannot
control their social channels.

This paper will focus on the negative effects being brought about by social media. It will do so
by exploring the themes of narcissism and body image and how they relate to social media.

Narcissism and Social Media:

It is undeniable that the development of artificial intelligence can dominate and control people’s
lives in different ways, especially social media. Smartphones, tablets and laptops that become
an integral part of our life today because they meet the demands of people’s work and
entertainment. Living in a technological age, everyone can interact together through some
media channels without moving. In other words, social media may connect people quickly and
effectively. However, using social media heavily could bring bloggers not only positive factors
but also negative issues.

There are significant numbers of articles as well as reports which evidences that people might
be living in a fake world where the narcissism is increasing like an epidemic. Social media can
be one of the main reasons lead to that heated problem. According to Firestone (2012), it is
not a strange topic as everybody focuses only on checking in
on Facebook by his or her phones instead of face-to-face
interaction at dinner time. An artwork of Jean Jullien, a French
graphic artist, living and working in London, demonstrates the
comment of Lisa Firestone sharply. In the Fig.1, Diner, the
artist illustrated a technological dinner of six people who
always keep their eyes on smart devices. This may be a family
including different generations but they have a common habit,
using social media everywhere and anytime. Jean Jullien
used cool colours such as green, grey-blue, grey to
emphasise the indifference of everyone in that meal.
Furthermore, he painted the background dark green to

Fig. 1: Diner
contrast sharply with the light of smart devices. Invisibly, has social media been separating
human’s connection?

It is generally agreed that social channels such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter… might be
like a fake house where people can interact together by images, text or something which is
unreal. This is also a good place where everybody, especially in the younger generation, can
show off everything from their material to personal emotions, from beautiful values to
distasteful issues. When people post statuses on their own social channels, they may gain the
praise from others who also use the same social applications and have the same perspective.
The number of “Like” seemly becomes the ruler to estimate the name of a person. This can
lead people to become more narcissistic.

According to Buffadi (cited in www.psychologytoday.com, 2012) that people who are using
Facebook or other social media channels are narcissists because they always believe that
other people feel interesting with what they do and they also want other people to follow them
anytime. This means social media users tend to be self-promotion and it quickly becomes a
hot trend in this unreal world. This is demonstrated dramatically via thousands of Facebook or
Instagram accounts of influencers in the world who are beautiful girls, muscular men or
wealthy teenagers with the luxurious items. They usually post the self-portrait on their social
channels to show the importance, the influence as well as the specialness. The primary
purpose of these activities is gaining attention from other people and have more followers to
increase their interaction and influence. It witnesses that a significant number of young people
suddenly become hot influencers who have thousands of likes for each status or post and
thousands of followers on their social media. They are also the KOLs (key opinion leaders) or
the ambassadors of some local or international exclusive brands and of course they can earn
money from this online promotion.

Even though these influencers have a desirable life, they also

Fig. 2: Narcissism and Social
Media
the significant narcissists because according to Firestone
(2012): ‘These heavy Facebook users were also more likely
to negatively compare themselves to others and feel worse
about themselves’. Patrik Svensson, a famous illustrator also
portrayed this problem with some artworks. The Fig.2:
Narcissism And Social Media was posted, and it was to be
evidence to reflect the general life of a narcissist. In that
picture, Patrik Svensson drew an ordinary officer who wore a
simple outfit and was working on his laptop. However, his
shadow on the wall reflected a different life of this person, a
fake-rich-life. The illustrator used the Emperor image with a
modern computer and a luxurious chandelier to represent
that in the fabulous life, this regular officer may be an influenced person who has authority,
power and can persuade others following him. It is clear that the image of Patrik Svensson
describes sharply two perspectives of our life today, real and unreal aspects.

It seems that narcissism has remained relevant in current society because it has a range of
aspects to illustrate. Furthermore, it also brings some dangers to human life. One of the most
reprehensible problems is body image which will be analysed in the next section of this paper.

How could social media affect body image?

Every day, thousands of self-images are posted on personal channels by celebrities, and
suddenly their body appearances turn into the standard of beauty which other people want to
copy.

Gaffney (2017) claims that women around the world are suffering from the body issues as well
as body imaging coming from social media in different ways. They always want to have the
body size of the models in newspapers or beauty websites. Katelyn showed the women who
own the beautiful modern bodies are ten times thinner than the average others today. This
could dramatically impact on females, especially young generation due to the increase of
eating disorders.

Currently, many international models turned into ugly and horrible amazedly, this is the
consequence of losing weight and crazy diet because they want to maintain their position in
the world of high fashion and able to get better and more popular fashion shows. Choosing
super thin models to catwalk in a fashion show or shooting for a new look-book of a famous
brand before posting on media websites was criticised significantly because it may lead to the
wrong awareness of beauty to young generations.

Most social media users are narcissists as they are never satisfied with what they have, which
means they always want to have more and more and body appearance that may be concerned
most. Someone, specifically celebrities always want to have a perfect figure when they do live-
stream on their social channels or appear in person. Therefore, they tend to worry about the
tiny failing part on their body and they are able to be shy although it does not matter. Puglia
(2017) wrote in her thesis:

The body dissatisfaction that results from these social influences is a concern due to
the connection that has been made between body dissatisfaction and negative
physical and psychological outcomes, such as depression (Lindberg et al., 2006;
Tiggemann & Kuring, 2004) and disordered eating behaviors (Stice, 2002; Stice &
Shaw, 2002).
To be dissatisfied with own body appearance might make people depressive. Some of them
could become their own tormentor and have terrible self-violence while others tend to access
the cosmetic surgery. Evenly unhappy consequences of this social issues appear day by day.
Generally, the standards of life that are shown on social media make people cannot recognise
their own value. People in current society want to catch up the meaningless tendency blindly
and they cannot predict its negative consequences.

An illustrator, Anna Steinberg

showed an artwork Body Lottery
(Fig.3) about the body image
issue on her website. By the
scrawled lines, this artist drew
women who do not satisfy with
the failing parts on their bodies
such as big bottom, big arms...
Fig. 3: Body Lottery
and always complain to them. In
contrast, the picture Hello Body (Fig.4) of Frances Cannon encourages women in loving their
own body. The content attaching in the picture makes viewers feel cosy, happy and more
confident although he did not use any colours to illustrate.

To sum up, the negative aspect of social media may cause

two problems in human life: Narcissism and Body image.

It is not unreasonable to claim that social media is a

necessary demand of human. However, it is also one of
the main factors causes the negative issues in current
society which were portrayed sharply by various artists in
the world via their alive contemporary illustrations. Social
media use could create narcissists who spent much time
to live their fake life on the internet and always want to
show their ego, ambition and impractical values. Their
Fig. 4: Hello Body
influence can lead them to access the body image
problem because they want to be a perfect person with a perfect body appearance to have
more “Likes” and followers on Facebook or Instagram.

People will have a better life if they can realise the negative effects of social media clearly and
able to control it carefully. Social media may be a good friend or a bad friend, it depends on
the users.
.References:

1/ Psychology Today, 2012. Is Social Media to blame for the rise in Narcissism?. [online]
Available at < https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/compassion-matters/201211/is-
social-media-blame-the-rise-in-narcissism > [Accessed 29 November 2012]

2/ Gaffney, J., 2017. Negative affects that Social Media causes on Body Imaging. Long
Island University.

3/ Puglia, R., 2017. Social Media use and its impact on body image: the effects of body
comparison tendency, motivation for social media use, and social media platform on body
esteem in young women. MA. University of North Carolina.