Social Media: a Substitute for Religion?
Part 2 - How has social media redefined the context of how we see, understand and engage with art?
‘Religion was the air you breathe, the water you drink, the underlying code to all social interaction. The internet does the same for us today; cyberspace is everywhere and nowhere’ (Rajan. 2019).
In modern daily life, it seems as if religion, in its ordered form, takes a back seat, ‘religiosity [has] a new, powerful rival; one that performs very similar functions, and makes irresistible claims on our attention. It’s called the internet’ (Rajan. 2019).
The influence of online platforms on real life is powerful and ’today, the influence of social media on a person's life sometimes exceeds the influence of religion or society’ (Grozny. 2018). This is not to say that religion no longer exists, and is not important in our digital lives, but simply that social media in many ways forms its own separate religion.
Since The First World War (1914-1918), humanity has been shifting from religious practices in daily life to new rituals, generally influenced by technology. As individuals we have become distracted by the technological possibilities of the everyday, reflecting upon the everyday aesthetics of ourselves, culture and society.
This transition to modern daily life can be seen in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, published in 1926 and set in 1922. The story follows a series of characters living in the fictitious residences of West and East Egg, divided by new and old money. Our story follows the protagonist ‘Jay Gatsby’ a faux, lavish and new-money-made individual; consumed by an unconditional love for Daisy Buchanan, our narrator's cousin. We are continually reminded of the divide between old and new money; Gatsby representing new money, the American Dream and Daisy as old money; inherited wealth.
In both cases, we experience lavish displays of wealth paralleled by The Valley of Ashes, the plains between Long Island - the location of the Eggs - and New York. Residents of The Valley of Ashes, specifically Myrtle, experience extreme poverty. We see these characters at the disposal of the wealthy, and through murder, they are encased in The Valley of Ashes for eternity; ‘her life violently extinguished (...) and her thick dark blood [mingled] with the dust’ (Fitzgerald. 1926: 131).
In The Valley of Ashes, characters are notably judged by God; visualised in the form of an ophthalmologist advertisement (see Figure 15); ‘The eyes of Dr T. J. Eckleburg (...) dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground’ (Fitzgerald 1926: 26). We come under the eyes of God only in The Valley of Ashes, the eyes of an advertisement left behind, the advertisement of ‘an oculist (...) [who] then sank down into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away’ (Fitzgerald. 1926: 26).
Figure 15: LUHRMANN, Baz and Warner Bros. Pictures. 2012 ‘The Eyes of Dr T. J. Eckelburg’.
The eyes of God are juxtaposed with the advertisement that allows this God-like presence to look over The Valley of Ashes; God is channeled through consumerism, ironically the very thing that draws humanity away from religion today. This is not shortsighted by Fitzgerald, and in fact indicates that God exists even in the parts of culture and society that draw us away. As for social media, is the internet a substitute for religion?
In regards to social media, the same clear distinctions cannot be made as in The Great Gatsby; even though we live in a fictional realism online.
No longer do we see the mass production of religious imagery; no longer do we worship such imagery in our masses. Instead, the majority of the world turns away from religion, much like in The Great Gatsby, towards excess, modern daily rituals and technology. Instead of mass religious imagery, we experience a new flurry of imagery depicted in Erik Kessels’ ‘24hrs in Photos’ (see Figure 16).
Figure 16: KESSELS, Erik. 2011. ‘24 hrs in Photos’.
As Kessels highlights in the work ‘24hrs in photos’, photography is being used in a way to depict the mundane and banal everyday aesthetics of daily life. We experience a similar journey on social media, where imagery of private everyday traditions become public.
But is that sense of religious imagery really lost within the framework of social media?
We can turn our attention immediately to iconography; in religion and outside of it. Religious imagery pioneers iconography, from images of Jesus to Kings adorned with the divine right to rule.
One of the most famous icons depicted in Catholic and Christian art is the Madonna, the Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ. The Madonna has been depicted in many different ways through the history of art, as the Nursing Mother, as a Queen, and a higher being (Rookmaaker. 1971: 14). Mostly these changes can be seen due to the desires of the followers of these religions; ‘we can ask what people wanted the artist to create, for he did not stand alone as a creative artist, but was closely tied to his community’ (Rookmaaker. 1971: 12).
So let us compare two depictions of the Madonna, ‘Madonna of Humility’ (Masolino. ca. 1415) and ‘Ognissanti Maestá’ (Giotto. ca.1300-1305).
Figure 17: MASOLINO. ca. 1415. ‘Madonna of Humility.
Figure 18: GIOTTO. ca. 1300-1305. ‘Ognissanti Maestá’
In the ‘Madonna of Humility’ (see Figure 17), Mary is seated nursing her son, a typical depiction of mother and child, the painting ‘emphasises Mary’s privileged roles as an intermediary between God and humanity’ (Uffizi. ca. 2020). Whereas, in ‘Ognissanti Maestá’ (see Figure 18) we see the Madonna ‘seated on a throne like a queen’ (Uffizi ca. 2020), becoming a superior being to humanity and human experience. Here she holds Christ, the child, the bearer of knowledge, symbolised by his scroll (Uffizi ca. 2020) and is depicted in the form of a Queen to symbolise the divine deliverance of Christ.
In both of these paintings, we experience beings far from ordinary human experience: ‘the styles might change, and with them, the theological overtones, but the basic ideas remain the same’ (Rookmaaker. 1971: 14). What is important here is not what we see and experience of the Madonna, but rather that both artists were ‘painting out of a culture that had been re-orientated according to the bible’ (Rookmaaker. 1971: 21).
The depicted beings in religious imagery ‘stood for something super-natural, something above and beyond ordinary human experience, and were loaded with religious meaning’ (Rookmaaker. 1971: 14).
So how is iconography and the depiction of religious figures in religious art relevant to the visual culture of social media today?
Here we can return to Amalia Ulman’s ‘Excellences and Perfections’ (see Figure 19), not because it subverts a platform with fiction, but because it depicts the very notion of iconography on social media through art.
Figure 19: ULMAN, Amalia. 2014. ‘Excellences & Perfections’.
Today we worship fame. We adorn, revere and lust after it. Famous icons become something, someone so far away from ordinary human experience, something supernatural and loaded with cultural associations (Rookmaaker. 1971: 14). We follow and like every moment they share their lives; we become obsessed with their fame, their online realities and soon we worship them.
How dissimilar is this obsession and adoration of influencers and celebrities on social media to the depiction of the Madonna in religious imagery?
Of course we cannot compare these images directly as they do not depict the same ideas and are completely different in style and depiction; but ultimately, these core ideas of superiority and human adoration remain (Rookmaaker. 1971: 14).
It is evident here that in some ways ‘the internet today, and social networks, give people the support that religions have previously provided’ (Grozny. 2018). Social media has the power and control to dictate how we behave not only online but also in the real world, with the blurring of the lines between the internet and the physical. We are so intertwined with the internet in daily life, that humanity and the internet are no longer separate things; and cannot exist without each other anymore (Nash. 2017: 112). Humanity has become digital, and the digital has become humanity.
We belong, hand and foot, to the digital age.
Social media encourages the building of relationships and followings; we create communities online, we destroy them and we worship digital icons. Social networks emulate the basic framework of Western traditional religions; ‘the priesthood had their holy texts, today’s tech evangelists find the meaning of life in code’ (Rajan. 2019).
Returning to Erik Kessels’ ‘24hrs in Photos’ installed in a church, we are confronted with the literal space where social media and religion mix. We are drawn isolated into an empty religious building saturated with a flurry of imagery depicting everyday aesthetic experience, ourselves and each other. We see photographs drawn under the public eye, but also under the eye of God. Does this God here too judge over the imagery, the digital humanity, as a God judges over the injustice of The Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby?
Figure 20: KESSELS, Erik. 2011. ‘24 hrs in Photos’
For me, there is this sense of detachment in this specific installation of the work. We are reminded of the presence of religion in culture and contemporary society, and yet, the imagery remains disconnected . It swarms among the space, engulfing the Church, scattered and littered across the floor; it doesn’t seem to belong here, so why is it here?
We are confronted with thousands of images depicting private human experience - emulating natural spaces. The installation indicates the landscape of contemporary culture; where we see literal mountains of imagery; life so vibrant and full within, set against the emptiness of a religious building, a place life has deserted.
Figure 21: KESSELS, Erik. 2011. ‘24 hrs in Photos’.
The church begins to drown amongst the mass of the imagery we are confronted with; drowning under the ‘representations of other peoples’ experiences’ (Kessels. ca. 2020).
Social media, the use of photography and religion mix here, reminding us of the role of religion in current society. In many ways, humanity moves away from religion, diving deeply into the digital; but in doing so, humanity brings itself closer to a new religion as such platforms and the internet as a whole begin to emulate the role of religion in society.
Illustrations List:
Figure 15: LUHRMANN, Baz and Warner Bros. Pictures. 2012 ‘The Eyes of Dr T. J. Eckelburg’. From Youtube [online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w8lohkQtbY
Figure 16: KESSELS, Erik. 2011. ‘24 hrs in Photos’. From Erik Kessels [online]. Available at: https://www.erikkessels.com/24hrs-in-photos
Figure 17: MASOLINO. ca. 1415. ‘Madonna of Humility. From: Uffizi [online]. Available at: https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/madonna-humility
Figure 18: GIOTTO. ca. 1300-1305. ‘Ognissanti Maestá’. From: Uffizi [online]. Available at: https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/virgin-and-child-enthroned-surrounded-by-angels-and-saints-ogn issanti-maesta#&gid=1&pid=1
Figure 19: ULMAN, Amalia. 2014. ‘Excellences & Perfections’. From Instagram: @amaliaulman [online]. Available at: https://instagram.com/amaliaulman?igshid=txj4d7sby8jr Figure 20: KESSELS, Erik. 2011. ‘24 hrs in Photos’. From Erik Kessels [online]. Available at: https://www.erikkessels.com/24hrs-in-photos
Figure 21: KESSELS, Erik. 2011. ‘24 hrs in Photos’. From Erik Kessels [online]. Available at: https://www.erikkessels.com/24hrs-in-photos
References:
FITZGERALD, F. Scott. 1926. The Great Gatsby. London: Penguin.
GROZNY, Maxim. 2018. ‘Digital is a religion’. UX Collective 02 November [online]. Available at: https://uxdesign.cc/digital-is-a-religion-d75b15e14872 [accessed 04 November]. KESSELS, Erik. ca. 2020. ‘24 Hrs In Photos’. Erik Kessels [online]. Available at: https://www.erikkessels.com/24hrs-in-photos [accessed 06 October 2020] NASH, Adam. 2017. ‘Art Imitates the Digital’. Lumina (Juiz de Fora, Brazil) 11(2), 110-25. RAJAN, Amol. 2019. ‘The internet as religious experience’. BBC News 12 July [online]. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48923485 [accessed 04 November 2020].
ROOKMAAKER, H R. 1971. Modern Art and the Death of a culture. London: Inter-Varsity Press. UFFIZI. ca. 2020. ‘Madonna of Humility’. Uffizi [online]. Available at:
https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/madonna-humility [accessed 02 November 2020]. UFFIZI. ca. 2020. ‘Virgin and Child enthroned, surrounded by angels and saints (Ognissanti Maestà)’. Uffizi [online]. Available at:
https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/virgin-and-child-enthroned-surrounded-by-angels-and-saints-ognissanti-maesta[accessed 02 November 2020].
