There comes a time in all our lives when we need to take an unequivocal stand on Kim Kardashian. The nugatory epiphenomenon of a narcissistic culture or an anatomical masterpiece who has redefined what sociologists know as symbolic interactionism? Kardashian may have emerged out of the perfect storm of a sex tape, formidable physical attributes, the rise of Instagram and a mutually profile-enhancing marriage to Kanye West but she is actually Erving Goffman's 1959 classic The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life made flesh and blood.
Goffman’s main thesis was that when we come into contact with others, we strive to control and guide the impression other people have of us through setting, appearance and manner. In other words, our social life is one big selfie.
Kardashian gives good selfie. So much so she "broke the internet" again last week when she released the image that will adorn the cover of her new book Selfish to be published later this year. Featuring the Greatest Hits of her selfies, it is a best-seller on pre-sales alone. Speaking of her work, the author said "I'm going to make some of the selfies super-racy. I mean, every girl likes to take pictures of their ass in the mirror". Indeed.
The heavily debated front cover shot was deemed “controversial” in pop culture circles as it featured a front shot of Kardashian rather than, as we have become accustomed to, one taken from behind.
Kardashian, who once took 1,200 selfies in the space of a two-week holiday, is now the subject of academic research into the meaning and evolution of the selfie shot. As a form of social interaction, the selfie is ubiquitous almost to the extent that nothing really happens in the world now unless there is a selfie to commemorate the event. Known more colloquially as the “pics or it didn’t happen” rule.
From heads of state to royalty to astronauts, the adoption, if not necessity, of the publicly visible self-portrait has happened quicker and in a more pervasive fashion than that of email and text messaging.
But as dynamically as it infiltrated our social space, the pointers are that we have now reached Peak Selfie – borrowed from the theory of “Peak Oil” referring to a point when the rate of production of the extraction of petroleum enters terminal decline.
If 2014 was indeed, as Twitter had it “The Year of the Selfie” kick-started by the ridiculous Ellen DeGeneres Oscars Selfie, then this year those of us who believe than even a by-line picture to be a gross infringement of our civil liberties are enjoying some payback.
In the UK, both Arsenal and Tottenham football clubs have just banned the “Selfie Stick” from their grounds. Music venues are quickly following suit.
A new phone app, SkinneePix, which claims to make it look like you’ve shed 15lbs in your selfies, has been met with derision. A popular set of beaches known as The Garoupe in the South of France have brought in “No Selfie Zones”. As a spokesperson for the beaches explains, “The Garoupe are among the most glamorous and pristine beaches in all of France and we want people to enjoy our beaches in the moment and not spend the majority of their time bragging to their friends and family back home”.
In South Korea you now have to officially register your Selfie Stick as the sticks have been reclassified as “telecommunication devices”. Young Muslims making their Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and taking selfies to beat the band are attracting the ire of not just Muslim clerics but those who think it’s just a crass form of behaviour to indulge in.
A woman taking a selfie with Jesus was last year’s Christmas message from the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, an attempt, as the Diocese had it, “to remind young adults who have strayed from the church that God is ever-present”.
Certain governments are now drawing up legislation to outlaw the taking of selfies while in the voting booth (these selfies are known as “boothies”). In the upcoming UK general election, “boothies” will be illegal, but in the US they allow the practice with some arguing it encourages young people to go out and vote if they know they can take a selfie of themselves exercising their democratic right.
But it is politicians who are now being blamed for the beginning of the end of the selfie. It's known as "The Jeremy Clarkson Effect". Some years ago the Top Gear presenter was blamed in a clothing industry report for causing a decline in the sales of jeans. The sight of a middle- aged man poured into a too tight pair of Levi's jeans meant a whole generation of people stopped buying denim apparently for fear of "ending up looking like him".
A US Congressman Sean Duffy released a video of selfies last year as a political promotional tool. He explained: “This is a great way to reach out to young voters and communicate with them in a way they’re familiar with. I’m not Jay-Z … I’m jumping on a trend to try and engage my younger constituents”.
Congratulations Congressman, you’re doing to the selfie what Jeremy Clarkson did to Levi jeans. And you can hashtag that.