Perfection

Aesthetics—what are they good for?

A discussion on aesthetics, self, and the human need to present ourselves. And, a reminder that no, it might not be aesthetic, but our lives and the things we love can still be perfect.

by fourth year Natalie Schott

I don’t know about you but after this summer my Instagram feed was invaded with seemingly innocuous posts. Photo dump after photo dump, curating a carefully crafted feed of messy imperfection. Scrolling through photo dump after photo dump, the realization hit me that I was not merely looking at updates from my friends’ adventure-filled vacations. No, I was looking at statements of their identity.

The “messy yet organized” posts looked thrown together carelessly and without a thought, yet on closer inspection, they betrayed a careful curation and an eye for detail. The mirror selfies, the food pics, the pet cameo, the fit check, the palette cleansing sunset, and the meme for a hint of comedy - all meshed together, drafted in the creators’ mind, to craft a “vibe” to be instantly understood but not explained.

The idea of aesthetics is nothing new. The ancient Greeks held the concept of aesthetics and beauty in incredibly high esteem in their culture. To the Greeks, aesthetics defined their way of looking at life and became the balancing point at which they judged the chaos and disharmony of life. Aesthetics defined the precise themes and narrow plot lines in which comedians and tragedians penned their plays spanning the works of mythology.

Today, aesthetics has made the leap from the works of Greek philosophers to media creation and curation. Aesthetics has once again become the measuring rod with which we present ourselves to the world and perceive others. Like how a store with too many clothes to possibly sell entices us with colorful advertisements and picture-perfect models, aesthetics offer us the tantalizing opportunity to “try on” different personality types and shed them like a second self. Based on the products you buy, the clothes you style, the music you listen to, and even the food you consume, you can create a whole notion of selfhood - less of an individual human being and more of a stage character.

The seemingly harmless Instagram feed does much to perpetuate this idea that we are not unique and individual human beings with our own thoughts, feelings, and experiences that no one else on this planet shares but more so observers of our own existence. We scroll through others' lives for entertainment, to see which vibe they choose to portray and enact month after month.

The thing is curating a vibe takes sacrifice. Sacrifice in that one has to spend their hard-earned money buying the necessary products and items to turn themselves into their desired aesthetic poster child. Sacrifice in that the amount of times one has to stop to pose for the perfect picture and repose again and again when the angle or lighting is unsatisfactory, those precious minutes and seconds that make up our existence are ticking away and the moment is passing in the time in between. Even if you manage to curate the perfect vibe and master social media content creation forever, how can you be sure that your “aesthetic,” the thing you have poured so much useless effort into, is the best representation of you and your amazing, incredibly profound soul?

As I am writing this, I see my desk and the scattered objects lying across it, long since abandoned to rot on that wooden piece of furniture for probably eternity. My water bottle - years old and long since gone out of fashion. My pencil case - a remnant from middle school. Postcards and random clippings of things I have found interesting and medals I have acquired over the years - tacked and pinned up haphazardly. None of this is aesthetic but this desk has gifted me with many fond memories of long nights spent putting my thoughts and imagination to paper. This—this might just be perfection.