Just want to say that this was really enjoyable read, and you really hit on some of the things that I find mildly disturbing about Chinese social media and marketing, like tokenism, 打卡ing, etc. Not that it doesn’t exist here in the west, but idk, sometimes I feel like western social media doesn’t have as strong convergence (towards one thing) as Chinese social media
That convergence is most definitely there I agree. A bit of a personal observation but every time I go back home (Beijing) these days and look at the pedestrians, I just feel like they all look very similar (especially girls, and I mean this in a completely non-sexist non-racist way)? Makeup, hairstyles and colour, fashion and so on are all converging towards one thing (a social media constructed image).
Lol yeah there’s no small amount to be said about Chinese beauty standards. But Chinese beauty standards have a whole lot of other (sinister?) forces around it. Beneath it is a lack of relatively physically apparent diversity (I say that because I understand that China is in reality very culturally and ethically diverse) in the sense where in America you daily encounter people of all different shapes and colors. Above there’s the government, nationalism, etc. The government promotes certain ways of being and looking, and nationalism brings all sorts of perverse attitudes and tendencies. But even more subtly are things like the absolutely inescapable use of filters, that “fix” things about people’s faces and bodies towards a normative appearance. Maybe I’m talking out of my ass here but to a certain degree I think filters are something unique to East Asia far more than any other region and I think it really does a number to people’s brains.
This isn’t to be one of those guys like “ew filters, just be natural.” Filters are actually pretty cool, and it’s good that they help people feel more confident and willing to participate on social media. I’m just pointing out that I think it has a real compressing effect on beauty standards. And I think similar dynamics play out across the Chinese Internet universe
No you're right!! If we trace it all the way up there's something in our genetic makeup that really believes in the necessity of "conformity" and "unison" (Confucianism? Dynastical rule? the importance given to Han as a pure and holy bloodline? idek) which I think is the root to the kind of tokenism we've been talking about here. People liking one thing and flocking towards one thing for fear of being left out or behind. (Have you seen Dune 2 btw? the Harkonnens rituals really reminded me of how much China loves grandiosity staged by sheer numbers of people performing together)
As with filters (and makeup looks by association), a thing i'm noticing (and it's very concerning) is how they're trying to be as "natural" as possible. They want to create a "生图" effect (raw meaning unedited photos, lingo taken from fanquan actually) which in the long term will really, really fuck with how you perceive others and yourself virtually and in reality.
Just want to say that this was really enjoyable read, and you really hit on some of the things that I find mildly disturbing about Chinese social media and marketing, like tokenism, 打卡ing, etc. Not that it doesn’t exist here in the west, but idk, sometimes I feel like western social media doesn’t have as strong convergence (towards one thing) as Chinese social media
That convergence is most definitely there I agree. A bit of a personal observation but every time I go back home (Beijing) these days and look at the pedestrians, I just feel like they all look very similar (especially girls, and I mean this in a completely non-sexist non-racist way)? Makeup, hairstyles and colour, fashion and so on are all converging towards one thing (a social media constructed image).
Lol yeah there’s no small amount to be said about Chinese beauty standards. But Chinese beauty standards have a whole lot of other (sinister?) forces around it. Beneath it is a lack of relatively physically apparent diversity (I say that because I understand that China is in reality very culturally and ethically diverse) in the sense where in America you daily encounter people of all different shapes and colors. Above there’s the government, nationalism, etc. The government promotes certain ways of being and looking, and nationalism brings all sorts of perverse attitudes and tendencies. But even more subtly are things like the absolutely inescapable use of filters, that “fix” things about people’s faces and bodies towards a normative appearance. Maybe I’m talking out of my ass here but to a certain degree I think filters are something unique to East Asia far more than any other region and I think it really does a number to people’s brains.
This isn’t to be one of those guys like “ew filters, just be natural.” Filters are actually pretty cool, and it’s good that they help people feel more confident and willing to participate on social media. I’m just pointing out that I think it has a real compressing effect on beauty standards. And I think similar dynamics play out across the Chinese Internet universe
No you're right!! If we trace it all the way up there's something in our genetic makeup that really believes in the necessity of "conformity" and "unison" (Confucianism? Dynastical rule? the importance given to Han as a pure and holy bloodline? idek) which I think is the root to the kind of tokenism we've been talking about here. People liking one thing and flocking towards one thing for fear of being left out or behind. (Have you seen Dune 2 btw? the Harkonnens rituals really reminded me of how much China loves grandiosity staged by sheer numbers of people performing together)
As with filters (and makeup looks by association), a thing i'm noticing (and it's very concerning) is how they're trying to be as "natural" as possible. They want to create a "生图" effect (raw meaning unedited photos, lingo taken from fanquan actually) which in the long term will really, really fuck with how you perceive others and yourself virtually and in reality.
lol I wanted to watch both dune movies first before replying and I totally see it