‘Socality Barbie’ Is A Perfect Instagram Parody; Will Make You Feel Ashamed Of Every Post
#LiveAuthentic.
If Twitter’s popular kids are the ‘Twitterati’ then Instagram’s is surely the ‘authentic living’ crew — the people who appear to be perpetually travelling around the world, standing in misty forests and on top of old bridges, literally all the time for no particular reason other than to upload a moody iPhone photo.
They’re the ones who saturate their accounts and the wider app with hashtags like #liveauthentic, #socality, #vsco, #vscocam (somehow different to #vsco) and #livefolk (????). If you have no idea what any of those mean, don’t worry; you are truly better off.
Since the photo sharing app arrived about four years ago, it has cultivated candid photography and originality and yeah, okay, mostly selfies. But hashtag movements took off, and so did photo editing apps that make low-res smartphone images look like they were taken on a #35mm vintage film camera, and now I don’t know where one cup of certified organic coffee on a white surface ends and the other one begins. An Instagram ‘look’ was born that was somehow both distinguishable and indistinguishable, and nothing/everything was the same again.
The culture has been begging to be satirised, and who could do it better than a mass produced doll wearing thick, lensless glasses? Enter Socality Barbie, who has been taking on the seemingly well-travelled, good-looking, bohemian rug-owning nomads of Instagram, and oh my god it’s good.
Scrolling through the dead-on parody feed, you’ll see the familiar legs-in-a-bubble-bath shot; a hand holding an object in front of a wall aka #ART; that fucking bridge; and captions like “If you need me I’ll be spending the day relaxing in my hammock in the most absurd places” and “Waking up at 10am was so worth it to get that perfect light & fog”.
The creator of the account, who wished to remain anonymous so as to preserve Socality Barbie’s authenticity, told Wired the inspiration came from the endless stream of identical photos, apparently owned by different people. “People were all taking the same pictures in the same places and using the same captions,” she said. “I get it, it’s pretty to look at. But it’s so dishonest. Nobody actually lives like this.”
Thank you, SB, whoever you are. We are truly #blessed.
Could I be any more authentic?! #instagoodmyphoto #vsco #vscocam #socality #liveauthentic #livefolk #kinfolk #visualcoop #getoutside #letsgosomewhere #neverstopexploring #exploreeverthing #explore #adventure #lifeofadventure #pnw #pacificnorthwest #thatpnwlife #northwestisbest #thegreatpnw #greatnorthcollective #socalityportland #pdx #communityfirst #oregon #upperleftusa #peoplescreatives #wildernessculture #instagood #herpnwlife A photo posted by Socality Barbie (@socalitybarbie) on
Folk Lyfe. Shout out to all the hunters out there making hip photos like this possible. #instagoodmyphoto #vsco #vscocam #socality #liveauthentic #livefolk #kinfolk #visualcoop #getoutside #letsgosomewhere #neverstopexploring #exploreeverthing #explore #adventure #lifeofadventure #pnw #pacificnorthwest #thatpnwlife #northwestisbest #thegeatpnw #greatnorthcollective #socalityportland #pdx #communityfirst #oregon #upperleftusa #peoplescreatives #wildernessculture #instagood #herpnwlife A photo posted by Socality Barbie (@socalitybarbie) on
What consumes your mind, controls your life. #vsco #vscocam #socality #liveauthentic #livefolk #kinfolk #visualcoop #getoutside #letsgosomewhere #neverstopexploring #exploreeverthing #exploremore #explore #adventure #lifeofadventure #pnw #pacificnorthwest #thatpnwlife #northwestisbest #thegeatpnw #greatnorthcollective #socalityportland #pdx #communityfirst #oregon #upperleftusa #peoplescreatives #wildernessculture #instagood #herpnwlife A photo posted by Socality Barbie (@socalitybarbie) on
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Feature image via Instagram/Socality Barbie.