Model, Character, Hero in the Photo – МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

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Alexandra L. YURGENEVA
The State Institute for Art Studies
5 Kozitsky Lane, Moscow, 125009 Russian Federation
Mass Media Arts Department, Senior Researcher

PhD (Cultural Studies)
e-mail: lvovushka@yandex.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-0465-4728

Model, Character, Hero in the Photo

Abstract: The article attempts to analyse how the concepts of model, character and hero relate to the practices of creating a photo portrait. Just as photography itself is able to change its meaning depending on the environment where its interpretation takes place, there is a situational use of words denoting the captured person in the scientific literature. The problem is marked by the ambiguity of the relationship between the photographer, the subject and the emerging image. Digital photography, being actively involved in the processes of virtual communication, forces us to pay more attention to the inclusion of photographic images in the communication environment on social networks. Self-presentation through snapshots has a direct impact on the situation of deanonymization on the Internet, when the user's mask becomes more plastic and dynamic. Filling in a page on a social network is accompanied by the creation of a character representing the user, perceived by its creator and visitors to the page as the main character. The internal framework and rules for its construction are gradually being formed. In the field of artistic photography, the concept of a model arises at the moment of the photographer's interaction with the person being portrayed. However, turning to the result of their joint work, we find the "hero" of the work. The model is always present in the picture, even when it comes to selfies. At the moment of creating a self-portrait, a person simultaneously combines the roles of an author and a model. The perception of an image from a photographic portrait as a character is born when the general visualization of the environment in which the subjects live turns out to be more important than their exclusivity and their whole value lies in belonging and compliance with it. It is concluded that when a photo portrait is removed from a personal virtual album and transferred to an alien environment, it is given the status of a character with an emphasis on image reduction. The personification of the person in the picture arises simultaneously with the loss of a large part of his personal characteristics and an increase in the degree of his correlation with the social type.

Key words: character, mask, model, photography, hero, social networks, portrait, self-presentation, "avatar", selfie, street photography.

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For Citation:

Yurgeneva, A. (2024) Model, Character, Hero in the Photo. International Journal of Cultural Research, 1 (54). 37–49. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2024_1_37

DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2024_1_37