A dichotomy has formed between technology, and the obsession with perfection. On one hand we want a dehumanising levels of flawless blemish free skin, as smooth as plastic or porcelain. Hours are spent in digital darkrooms, airbrushing away our biological markers, and yet, camera resolutions keep increasing, allowing us to see finer and finer details. Ironically, as we enter deeper into the Ultra High Definition world, and resolution depths increase, we will once again look towards fine details and "imperfections", for it's these imperfections that will bring a new level of realism to our viewing pleasure.
[ Download High Resolution Photography.mp3 ]
High resolution photography,
Increased spectral allure.
A new viewing fetish
For the modern voyeur.
Fine details bring intimacy,
Megapixels see more.
The pleasure is in zooming,
A view into every pore.
Digital existence,
The body superceeded.
Imperfections sought after,
Perfection not needed.
Traversing the landscapes,
Through pixelated mesh.
This is our life now,
Long live the new flesh.
Words, music, and thoughts conjured after watching Tron:Legacy (2010). Image: 640x640 crop of this 34MP photograph.
5 comments:
A Gammagoblin poem.. that must be a first surely?
Yes it would be nice to think of a world where imperfections were celebrated. It will probably only happen, the rarer they become though.
My dear, if I may say, I am quite surprised by your comment. For you have commented on my poetry in the past, on a related poem in fact: The Lothesome Reality Of The Unbound Flesh.
And what about my other efforts: Djinn Duffy and the deadline and you don't think Kevin Myers really wrote these wonderful poems do you :) Kevin Myers Releases Love Poetry Collection.
I'm sure there are other efforts published here, but I tend not to publish the ones that are too personal anymore, only the ones that sound like Rammstein lyrics.
I see a point of convergence that film makers are racing towards. A place where CGI becomes almost reality but not quite, and real-life actors become so plastinated so as to smear the boundaries and fill in the gaps CGI leaves. Thus creating a reality that is visual seamless, but empty and alien.
I am far more optimistic about peoples desire for defects than you. The speed at which technology is advancing will fuel this but so will, perhaps, society and fashion. Remember, beauty is only relative, and one would be a fool to think they ever really understand it: Japanese Teeth.
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I am quite surprised by your comment
Aargh. my bad. I do remember the Unbound Flesh now. It's about how our organs are deteriorating from the day we're born, isn't it?
I was not aware of the extent of your oeuvre though and in particular the Kevin Myers Collection. I look forward to checking it out.
One of the great joys of CGI for me is being able to see the blemishes. I find it much more interesting than the shot-through-a-pair-of-nylons blurry stuff we had to put up with in the past.
By pure co-incidence I watched "La piel que habito" or "The Skin I Live In" (2011) shortly after commenting here last. A Spanish film starring Antonio Banderas as a plastic surgeon who has grafted artificial "perfect" skin onto a woman who he's kept locked up in a room in his house. There are many twists to the film and to say any more may spoil it, although it's edited in such a way that the twists are spelled out long in advance, and it's the story telling that one will enjoy. I thought it was a great film anyway.
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