… Facebook evokes the private face, despite its faceless texts.
This is from Face and Mask: A Double History by Hans Belting, translated by Thomas S. Hansen and Abby J. Hansen (2017):
… “Facial politics and advertising aesthetics” have not only politicized the face, they have also commodified it. “Faciality,” consequently, is no longer derived from the natural face, but rather usurps our screens with blank facial formula.
[line break added] With his own now-anonymous face the viewer consumes faces on the screen; these show projections of the power structures of society. The public face has produced its own mask.
… A special case in cosmetic surgery addresses the desire to have one’s own face transformed to resemble a famous face. Some people prefer to walk around as copies rather than wear and tolerate their own, unloved, everyday faces. This is not mimesis of one’s own self bur rather of an alien ego and its mask.
… Face-to-face contact has retreated from the Internet, where the name Facebook evokes the private face, despite its faceless texts. Mass media rob the face of its corporeal presence by disembodying the habits of our perception.
My most recent previous post from Belting’s book is here.
-Julie
Coloring 