/face by Bill Lessard
Literature Review
/face has Bill Lessard reveal that we have freely given our image to those who forsake us. All that mythology about Medusa, all those warnings from the ancient Greeks, and literally every other possible ancient civilization, could not prevent us from the allure of that sharing. Medusa turned her victims to stone by having them look at her, all the snakes and such. Instead of thinking about what that means or looking away from forsaken imagery, we want to add to it. Our desire is to stop hearts and minds, to have others defy logic for beauty.
We want to be recognized for our appearances. Keeping Up Appearances, a British sitcom, poked fun at such a worldview. Yet, here we are, sharing ourselves, handing out pieces of us for any random lurker on the internet. And there are plenty; we are amid a loneliness epidemic. Our desire to be wanted outweighs any reasonable concerns about privacy. No, we put all our information out there, for the world to see, for nothing. Then, in a cruel twist of fate, or face as this fine-feathered book frames it, we are marketed back to by large multinational corporations that lack a distinct sense of place, of geography. You can see the number of patents for facial technology, animation, face recognition, and eye scanning, which were essential in the original installment of Mission: Impossible with Tom Cruise. We thought it was so cool how secure that room was; it presented such an obstacle, an impossible one, hence the movie name, that it defined the concept of suspense for years after the fact. However, that level of recognition sucks. Anybody they want to catch, want to track, well, they have exactly what they need, the image you shared freely for just a small amount of external validation.
More thought needs to go into what we share for nothing. Our faces tell the stories of our lives. The dirt on the face, hardship. The looksmaxxing phase, narcissism on steroids, which is also taken alongside looksmaxxing. In some ways, it is a discouraging time. Yet, there are ways to hide the face. One can simply be anonymous, and the anonymity is annoying for larger organizations. If they can’t have the face, then they will need some form of identification. Thus, there are movements to have everyone register online, to show themselves, literally, ID cards and all. It is said to be for some kind of child protection, but as the world empties of children, with ever-decreasing birthrates, smaller families, non-existent families, and a life far too expensive to support such a family, the reality is much less benign. Facial recognition wants to own you, to have access to your greatest worries. Hell, Facebook put the concept of the Face front and center of the whole business model, a picture book of stalking.
Bill Lessard gives us these ideas. He expects you to do your own research, to be a participant in the text. The outline is given to you; he puts down bread crumbs, and it is up to you to figure out where they lead.
Questions, Comments, and Concerns:
Please email me at beachsloth32@gmail.com
Want to support me financially?
Please PayPal me at beachsloth32@gmail.com
Throne
Throne | Beach Sloth | My Wishlist
BlueSky