Understanding Young People's Photo-Sharing Culture Through "Mori" and "Matsuri"

Halloween, Color Run... The Relationship Between "Excitement" and "Festival"

Amano: Up until now, we've focused on the new communication style of visual communication spreading among users who skillfully utilize photo and video apps on their smartphones, tracing its outline. We've also depicted how these apps are used differently and repeatedly examined how this emerging visual communication differs from the literal communication centered on text that has been dominant until now.

In the latter part, I'd like to discuss what kind of cultural changes the spread of this visual communication might bring about.

Kitahara: Recent events like Halloween and Color Run are increasingly gaining momentum starting from SNS. Halloween, in particular, has estimates suggesting its economic impact has surpassed Valentine's Day. The influence of visual communication on these trends is actually quite strong, isn't it?

Shitara: At the heart of this is the perspective of how users present themselves more favorably than usual—how they "enhance" themselves. The history of women "enhancing" themselves has evolved from purikura photo booths to editing apps, and today, we must consider how "enhancing" oneself is increasingly linked to "enhancing" one's social presence.

What insights emerge when we look at the girls who are the main protagonists of these events through the lens of visual communication?

Dominique: "Pimping" and events—essentially "festivals"—are quite correlated, right? Without pimping, it wouldn't be a festival.

Halloween, originating within families and local communities, might reveal this "enhancement" even in closed or semi-closed settings. But visual communication seems best at capturing the explosive energy of this enhancement—the way costumes erupt in public spaces—without losing its dynamism.

Shitara: It seems tied to the desire to transform—how to express a different version of oneself in an extraordinary setting—and also to showcasing how fulfilling one's life is, that "real-life fulfillment" appeal.

Dominique: Halloween fundamentally caters to a different set of desires than Valentine's Day. It allows for a much more diverse range of social attributes to participate. It can be classified as a life event, making it acceptable even on a platform with an official feel like Facebook. On spaces like Instagram, sexy Halloween costumes are evaluated as adult, cool, or stylish.

It better integrates adult desires, the desires of those with families, and the festival needs of peaceful, herbivorous girls and boys.

Amano: Definitely. Halloween is the event where those two needs – the "glitz" of the transformation desire (the visual aspect) and the "festival" of wanting to enjoy it together (the social aspect) – are mixed in the best possible way.

Miwa: Regarding the "glitz," what struck me in user interviews was how adeptly everyone uses editing apps. Editing apps are downloaded onto smartphones just as much as camera apps, creating a flow where you take a photo, edit it, then choose where to post it (which app).

Dominique: The idea that you can't share information about yourself unless you embellish it feels similar to the sense that you can't go out without putting on makeup. Conversely, Snapchat, which is hugely popular in the US, isn't for embellishment, so I wonder if it's harder to use if you can't show your natural self.

For girls in America or Europe, going barefaced is normal among girlfriends or close guy friends. I don't know how it is now, but when I was in the US and France, the number of high school or college students wearing makeup was overwhelmingly lower compared to Japan. They really only wear makeup for special occasions. That kind of cultural difference might also be a factor.

 

What are the "simulacra" that flood our daily lives?

Amano: We've been considering the nature of communication in the age of visual communication from various perspectives, and here I'd like to introduce the keyword "simulacrum."

This term is famous as a concept popularized by the philosopher Baudrillard, who philosophically analyzed the nature of advanced consumer societies. Roughly speaking, it means "copies without originals."

Generally, a copy exists only when there is an original, but in an environment dominated by visual communication, visual patterns that everyone vaguely recognizes as "typical" are copied without anyone knowing where they originated.

Photos of trips that look vaguely celebrity-like, group photos that look vaguely fulfilling, photos of stylish dining and tableware that look like they're enjoying their holidays, or even photos that hint at a date at Starbucks without directly photographing the boyfriend or girlfriend...

No one knows who started it or if there is even an original, but these simulacra-like images spread through visual communication as everyone starts to imitate them. I think this is one of the characteristics that symbolizes the modern media environment.

Shitara: While describing the reason for posting as "self-satisfaction," it's actually a case unique to visual communication where people are "showing off" through photos. It's remarkable how the importance of being praised is steadily increasing. Even when posting photos, people constantly incorporate the gaze of others into their output.

In our group interview for the survey, we had a lively discussion about how we often see "hint-filled posts," such as couples taking photos of two drinks side by side at a trendy cafe to casually convey that they are a couple.

Amano: British novelist and art critic John Berger also proposes the perspective that visual communication is fundamentally something that evokes longing (Image: Vision and Media, Chikuma Shobo).

In visual communication, too, it's not just about what can be seen or not seen, but also about the codes of showing or not showing, which lead to sophisticated interpretations. This is also greatly involved in the formation of simulacra that evoke people's longing.

Dominique: When talking with female Instagram users, it's clear that posting is primarily for their own sake. The desire to make their profile page beautiful and cute is a form of "self-satisfaction" that can be fulfilled before communication even begins, which is why it's so powerful.

Furthermore, the accumulation of likes, comments, and follows from viewers also satisfies their desire to show off. In the case of Instagram, this dual structure of personal use and communication is what makes it so appealing. It's like you can wear your image.

Amano: Many people point out how easy it is to edit photos on Instagram, and anyone can easily make their photos look stylish. However, because of this characteristic, there is a paradoxical constraint on the communication that takes place there. When users internalize these codes and share their content, the visuals become increasingly simulacral.

It's very interesting to see this cycle of codes becoming stronger, and I think these simulacra are increasingly stimulating users' ideal images. I believe that simulacra are the visual manifestations of needs and desires for approval, such as "I want to be like this" or "I want to do this."

Classifying the current state of information dissemination into three types