Photography, in order to surprise, photographs the notable; but soon, by familiar reversal, it decrees notable whatever it photographs. The “anything whatever” then becomes the sophisticated acme of value.” Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida.

 

 


Roland Barthes’s Camera Lucida, a collection of brief theoretical
essays on the photograph and composition, presents a problematic situation in the age of digital selfies. The photos above, various selfies taken with the Eiffel Tower, are eerily similar. In fact, the three showcased side by side are nearly identical—from wardrobe, to lighting, to angle.

Why are selfies so problematic? Well, Barthes’s theories highlight the roles
of Spectator (the viewer), Operator (the photographer), and Target (the person posing) as being separate and having specific roles being attached. In a selfie, the Self is Spectator, Operator, and
Target, simultaneously acting, capturing, and viewing the action. How is that the Spectator is now in the capacity of the Operator and Target, and how do both positions influence the other?

As an Operator of the cell phone camera, the purpose is to capture something notable. In this case, it is the act of visiting the Eiffel Tower. In an odd twist of logic, the Operator attempts originality and includes the Target, the Self, in the photograph. Often, the screen of the cell phone camera is facing the Operator, and the Spectator is in control of the positioning of the Target and the Operator. In this act, the Spectator/Operator/Target ignores the notable icon already in the background and presents themselves as the notable through their photograph.

Social media is an obvious driving force of the selfie (who will care about
your photo of the Eiffel Tower if you aren’t in it?), and the issues it
presents with Barthes’s theories leave us with more questions than answers.