When faces go virally wrong
Briefly

The recent phenomenon surrounding OpenAI's Ghibli-style portraits has unveiled the internet's extraordinary obsession with visual self-representation. In mere hours, users, including public figures, flooded social media with anime-like images of themselves, reflecting a universal preoccupation with their appearances. This fascination is tied to our innate ability to recognize and trust faces from a young age. The complexity of facial expressions, influenced by the symmetry of appearances, reveals deeper cultural standards of beauty, health, and desirability, reinforcing how appearances shape personal and societal interactions.
Within just hours of a viral prompt, the internet was awash with anime-styled likenesses of everyone from celebrities to everyday users, showcasing a collective fascination with visage.
Our intrinsic preoccupation with our appearance is profound; we instinctively learn to place trust and recognition in faces from the moment we're born.
Given the myriad of expressions a face can convey, it is a fascinating subject for exploration, encompassing themes of beauty and art.
The ideal of beauty is often rooted in facial symmetry, which is associated with health and desirability, highlighting our cultural values.
Read at Medium
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