HIPSTER BARBIE IS SO MUCH BETTER AT INSTAGRAM THAN YOU
September 7, 2015 11:34 AM   Subscribe

Wired Magazine introduces us to Socality Barbie:

Socality Barbie is a fantastic Instagram account satirizing the great millennial adventurer trend in photography. It’s an endless barrage of pensive selfies in exotic locales, arty snapshots of coffee, and just the right filter on everything. Anyone who’s flipped through an issue of Kinfolk gets the aesthetic. And it’s everywhere on Instagram.
posted by Johnny Wallflower (86 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
Related?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:39 AM on September 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


Not covered in the Wired article: Sweet jesus Socality has some serious (creepy) evangelical roots. Also the actual "Socality" website…Its probably like swimming, you really ought to not eat a half hour or so before checking it out.

Its just prosperity doctrine bullshit trying to keep up with those dang kids today.
posted by furnace.heart at 11:42 AM on September 7, 2015 [17 favorites]


She needs a selfie at a Timbers game.
posted by bink at 11:43 AM on September 7, 2015


The only thing I know about kinfolk was that I flipped through a few of the magazines while visiting a friend and found it to have an odd "look at this utopia without minorities or the poor" aesthetic to it.
posted by Karaage at 11:49 AM on September 7, 2015 [8 favorites]


kills me
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:59 AM on September 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


The homogeneity of their authenticity and universality of their socality all but demanded satirization.

What a bunch of phonies!
posted by shakespeherian at 12:01 PM on September 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


Needs more yoga poses - in the outdoors, of course. Also some Wayne Dyer quotes.
posted by Miko at 12:11 PM on September 7, 2015 [7 favorites]


the account is a satire? because it really feels like someone just wants to put takes a lot of artsy photos of Barbie and have it justified.
posted by numaner at 12:18 PM on September 7, 2015


Honestly I can't tell what's being satirized here - Instagram? Barbie? Weird quasi-hipster upper middle class evangelical navel gazing? Taking pictures of dolls?
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 12:20 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


From the wired article: “People were all taking the same pictures in the same places and using the same captions,” she says. “I couldn’t tell any of their pictures apart so I thought, ‘What better way to make my point than with a mass-produced doll?'”

I see her intention, I'm just not sure if it's effective. I think a better stab at the ubiquitous quality of those trends and "socality" would be for minorities to use the same hashtags with photos of less-than-"utopian" spaces.
posted by numaner at 12:24 PM on September 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


I think, broadly, it's poking fun at contemporary conformism.
posted by codacorolla at 12:25 PM on September 7, 2015 [12 favorites]


When you read the caption on individual pictures the satire is much more effective.

From Foci's link:

I wonder if there will be Instagram in heaven? That way we can stay connected for all eternity.
posted by kittensofthenight at 12:25 PM on September 7, 2015 [5 favorites]


Needs Ken with a beard, Robin Thicke style haircut, $500 Rick Owens plain white T-shirt, and dark skinny jeans.
posted by pravit at 12:26 PM on September 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


This just makes me appreciate these Vines more.
posted by mccarty.tim at 12:26 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


#Socality: the evangelicals have adopted the recruitment tactics of ISIS.
posted by eustacescrubb at 12:26 PM on September 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


Weird quasi-hipster upper middle class evangelical navel gazing?

Thats the one. The term "Socality" particular refers to a "too hip to be religious" evangelical… thing. And yeah, the actual captions help firmly solidify this shit in satire.

I mean, Jesus CHRIST (in vain) look at the hashtag on instagram.
posted by furnace.heart at 12:28 PM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


like, gag me with a spoon!
posted by numaner at 12:35 PM on September 7, 2015


When you read the caption on individual pictures the satire is much more effective.

Yeah I agree, I always forget to actually click on the individual instagram pics and read the captions when I get introduced to a new account.
posted by numaner at 12:36 PM on September 7, 2015




minorities to use the same hashtags with photos of less-than-"utopian" spaces.

I'm not sure what you mean by less-than-uptopia in this case, but haven't you just characterized what "minorities" should do and where they should live by tying them to less-than-uptopia? In other words, by flipping the script, you've just mirrored it?
posted by smidgen at 12:38 PM on September 7, 2015 [9 favorites]


I couldn't force myself through the entirety of your links, furnace.heart (just ate), but holy cow, that whole "we're not a church but we're using social media to change the Church" stuff... well now I just want an Instagram hipster parody account named diet_of_worms or 95_theses.
posted by romakimmy at 12:48 PM on September 7, 2015 [13 favorites]


I was under the impression that most of these pictures were either ad-related or from a stock photo website.

Maybe I wasn't wrong?
posted by surazal at 12:49 PM on September 7, 2015


Diet of worms? The artisanal foodie blogs have finally taken things a step too far.
posted by Xavier Xavier at 12:51 PM on September 7, 2015 [14 favorites]


is it pronounced soKality or soSHality?

I don't see how it could be the latter without an i after the c.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 1:01 PM on September 7, 2015


I think a better stab at the ubiquitous quality of those trends and "socality" would be for minorities to use the same hashtags with photos of less-than-"utopian" spaces.
I just thought of the absolute most extreme (and offensive) possible parody. Just use photoshop for Socality Aylan Kurdi.
I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:04 PM on September 7, 2015


Oh, I thought it was SoCal - ity... like southern california, which seems to an be influence in a lot of the pictures.
posted by smidgen at 1:04 PM on September 7, 2015 [22 favorites]


I was under the impression that most of these pictures were either ad-related or from a stock photo website.

Maybe I wasn't wrong?


Well, if you think about it, a lot of this stuff (the instagramming/facebooking/tweeting/etc.) really do end up being ads for people's lives. "See all this cool stuff I'm into? Follow me! Like me!" And, in terms of the aesthetic of their visuals, they really are cribbing from advertising photography. They grew-up bathed in commercial media, so it makes sense that that's the filter they project themselves through.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:20 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


We're all self-commodifying now.

This Socality thing is darned interesting.
posted by Miko at 1:22 PM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Just in time for pumpkin spice season ☕️
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 1:24 PM on September 7, 2015 [8 favorites]




This Socality thing is darned interesting.

This must be something I'd need a selfie stick to properly appreciate?

(I was at the Corning Museum of Glass a couple of weeks ago, and they actually have "No Selfie Sticks" signs up. Wow. Narcissism is that much of a serious problem?)
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:25 PM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


(I was at the Corning Museum of Glass a couple of weeks ago, and they actually have "No Selfie Sticks" signs up. Wow. Narcissism is that much of a serious problem?)

Probably more that people are idiots with them. I got smacked in the head with one at Arches NP a few months ago.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 1:34 PM on September 7, 2015


haven't you just characterized what "minorities" should do and where they should live by tying them to less-than-uptopia? In other words, by flipping the script, you've just mirrored it?

good point, I hadn't thought of that. That was a knee-jerk idea of what seems like the counter of these photos.

"We are a (SO) social (C) community (AL) all for eternity (ITY). Socality!"

This makes me wanna burn ALL the things
posted by numaner at 1:38 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


Narcissism is that much of a serious problem?

It's not the selfie, it's the stick. Glass museums, indeed most museums, don't like people waving sticks around. Also I reject your framing of selfies, but that's not an argument for the thread.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 1:42 PM on September 7, 2015 [16 favorites]


Needs Ken with a beard, Robin Thicke style haircut, $500 Rick Owens plain white T-shirt, and dark skinny jeans.

See also: the first photo in this article (linked in the second comment above).
posted by Lyn Never at 1:43 PM on September 7, 2015


Socality's response to the Barbie thing.

They did a pretty good job with that response. It still came off a little stodgy but they avoided being too uptight about it and did say something about appreciating the importance of laughing at themselves. Hard to tell what they do though, other than "empower communities to have positive impact"....
posted by aka burlap at 1:46 PM on September 7, 2015


> Socality's response to the Barbie thing.

That's the blog's homepage. Here's the permalink: SOCALITY RESPONSE REGARDING PARODY ACCOUNT: @SOCALITYBARBIE.

tl;dr: Through rather gritted-teeth they say (paraphrasing), "It's a parody, we don't approve, we'd do something about it if we could," followed by the pivot (paraphrasing), "And anyway we do a lot of charitable things so you know we're the good guys, just keep that in mind for future reference."
posted by ardgedee at 1:48 PM on September 7, 2015 [6 favorites]


Anyway, I must be getting old, now that the first time I'm hearing about trendy things is via the parodies of them.
posted by ardgedee at 1:51 PM on September 7, 2015 [20 favorites]


Not covered in the Wired article: Sweet jesus Socality has some serious (creepy) evangelical roots

You know, I came in here to say that this reminds me of Jessa Duggar's social media presence, so I totally believe this. I hadn't realized it was an integrated evangelism strategy, though. (You have to scroll down to pre-wedding to see the similarity -- once she got married the selfies got cluttered in between bible verses).
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 2:01 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


"You're not making Christianity any better, you're just making rock and roll Instagram worse." - Hank Hill
posted by Xavier Xavier at 2:09 PM on September 7, 2015 [34 favorites]


Art school: not even once
posted by thelonius at 2:11 PM on September 7, 2015


Anyway, I must be getting old, now that the first time I'm hearing about trendy things is via the parodies of them.

An actual benefit of getting old.

posted by Alter Cocker at 2:16 PM on September 7, 2015 [11 favorites]


Gah, there's way too much LOLXTIANS in this thread. The Socality folks are pretty middle-of-the-road evangelical and are supremely inoffensive, unless you're primed to find any and all christian intercourse (in the non-sex way, duh) offensive.

They're using the same tactics as ISIS? Really? Hashtags and talking to people?
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:21 PM on September 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


There is no Urban Dictionary entry for "socality." Thus, this is a pretend thing.
posted by 256 at 2:36 PM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Socality's response to the Barbie thing.

Wait, what? Socality is a thing that exists? Urban Dictionary lied to me?
posted by 256 at 2:38 PM on September 7, 2015


They're using the same tactics as ISIS? Really? Hashtags and talking to people?

Uh. Yeah, they kind of are. Did you read the article linked by eustacescrubb? There's quite a bit of overlap…but its a pretty neutral thing itself. Its the modern day equivalent of a tract, pamphlet, or soapbox preaching. The tactic carries no real influences or value judgement…Hospitals and nonprofits use the same tactics. Lots of organizations do.

And as far as the "LOLXIANS" goes…yeah, there probably is some of that going on here. That's something metafilter kind of does, but there are even other christians that are critical of the Socality and Kinfolk "style over substance" with their qualsi-religious overtones. There's more written about kinfolk, because its been around a bit longer, but the vibe and background of the people behind kinfolk and socality are cut from the same cloth (sorta, i mean, kinfolk is mega mormon, but still both are from sects of christianity). Here's a great article about some deeper criticisms of Kinfolk and their aesthetic. There's some really weird levels of commodification and objectification of historically-lower-class labor, community and work going on with all this shit.

If you're able to do so, Kinfolk and Socality make much more sense as a type of porn; they're an unattainable vision of life. This stuff is just as gross, if taken seriously, as certain types of sexual porn out there. If you're able to look at it as an unattainable fantasy (which these folks most certainly do not see this as a fantasy) then its probably fairly harmless…but if you're always chasing the things you see portrayed in magazines like Kinfolk and on feeds like Socality, you're going to be in as much disappointment with your entire life as you would your sex life if you based your expectations on porn. That. Is. Fucked. Up.

On some level, this Socality movement is promising (explicitly or not) a Beautiful Life™, and all you have to do is follow their god to attain it. Again, at its base this is prosperity doctrine, and really gross. These are the televangelists of the internet, and they're probably at best at neutral force…but in the long run, they're probably pretty goddamn detrimental to folks lives and happiness.
posted by furnace.heart at 2:54 PM on September 7, 2015 [27 favorites]


This satire is on point.

I unabashedly love instagram, and it never makes me feel anywhere near as bad about my life as facebook does. I mostly post pictures of food I cook and the cats, though, so YMMV.
posted by likeatoaster at 3:02 PM on September 7, 2015


I'm confused, did this happen because the photographer knew what Socality was, or did she just see the hashtag and assumed it was some hipster slang for something else?
posted by elwoodwiles at 3:04 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


Sorry about linking to the wrong page.

Yeah, I think that for a social-media-savvy bunch they could have made a lot more of the parody. "Glad you found your way here! Barbie isn't an official member, but we're happy to have you drop in to learn about what we do..." They are a little tense about it.

Yeah, I don't think I can hate on Socality without learning a lot more about it. It's intriguing. From a cultural-phenomena perspective, It was sort of a low-hanging fruit for someone to do broad-based Milennial Christianity right, and these guys seem out in front. I mean, they're completely correct that a lot of people share an inclination toward Christianity but are never going to go into a church, as the appointment-based model and fundraising and all that stuff don't fit their lifestyle. The megachurch phenomenon was a thing of the 80s and 90s, and even if you call your church LAUNCH! or Ignite! It's not necessarily bringing the kids in in droves. Also, there's a big emphasis on meetups and being social, and on service projects - action-oriented, values-driven, community service stuff that does fly pretty well with their demographic. What I'm a little side-eye about is that their text says "Everyone is welcome!!" but their design and imagery says "Go away, ugly old people!" Can't really help that, though.

It also reminds me a lot of the style of young Mormon communities - covered here previously, and in a Salon piece about Why I Can't Stop Reading Mormon Housewife Blogs. Years before this, they were promoting a hybrid hip, contemporary, design-conscious lifestyle along with wholesomeness and family and community values, and doing it with plenty of cute pictures and outfits and rich visuals.

So I'd say this was bound to happen, and am interested to see where it goes.
posted by Miko at 3:04 PM on September 7, 2015 [7 favorites]


The thing is, if they weren't some kind of subtle social-media recruiting experts for evangelicals, amiably and harmlessly inviting young people to join the church, then I don't see the point in this quasi-religious internet-brand hashtagging, other than to get likes on the internet.
posted by numaner at 3:07 PM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Interesting, furnace.heart, I had no idea Kinfolk was Mormon-related. That also goes a long way to explaining the general whiteness feel.
posted by Miko at 3:08 PM on September 7, 2015


Prior Art: 1/8th Gates (McFadden) (although I think she gave up on the joke.)
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 3:08 PM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah, the editors/owners went to BYU: Hawaii.
posted by furnace.heart at 3:12 PM on September 7, 2015


All the backstory makes this so much more interesting to me - less "hipster Barbie" than "Rev. Scot Sloan Barbie."
posted by queensissy at 3:36 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


Jeez, I shoulda tossed this one to furnace.heart and gone for coffee. Thanks for the background.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:45 PM on September 7, 2015


I'm clearly too biased for a FPP on this topic. Too much blinding rage.
posted by furnace.heart at 4:13 PM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


I rather enjoyed the Barbie pics. All the hate in this thread? Not as much.
posted by MikeMc at 4:37 PM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Feels like the Kony 2012 folks. Upper-middle-class white San Diego/Orange County evangelicals.
posted by persona au gratin at 4:45 PM on September 7, 2015


The Kinfolk / Socality stuff is really interesting furnace.heart thanks for sharing your knowledge. Though I have some evangelicals in my family I hadn't realised how some of their aesthetic was informed.

Looking & reading Kinfolk I find it really hard to tell if they are serious - for instance the tone & the name dropping in this article are just plain strange to me ART OF DAYTIME DRINKING.
posted by Ashwagandha at 5:14 PM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


I rather enjoyed the Barbie pics. All the hate in this thread? Not as much.

Hate? Mike, you've got us all wrong.

Our desire is that those who are learning about our organization for the first time discover that [Metafilter] is about inspiring others to use their social influence collectively to showcase genuine love for their community and social impact.
posted by Xavier Xavier at 5:20 PM on September 7, 2015 [10 favorites]


Hate? Mike, you've got us all wrong.

Color me embarrassed!
posted by MikeMc at 5:34 PM on September 7, 2015


Uh. Yeah, they kind of are. Did you read the article linked by eustacescrubb? There's quite a bit of overlap…but its a pretty neutral thing itself. Its the modern day equivalent of a tract, pamphlet, or soapbox preaching. The tactic carries no real influences or value judgement…Hospitals and nonprofits use the same tactics. Lots of organizations do.

Yes, this is exactly my point. By saying "they're using the same tactics as ISIS", the poster was trying to convict Socality by association. It's basically Godwining: "you know who else used bog-standard network-building tactics …"

If you're able to do so, Kinfolk and Socality make much more sense as a type of porn; they're an unattainable vision of life.

The photos in #socality are indistinguishable from 90% of Instagram. Is your critique just that people put their best version of their life on social media? And that because these folks in particular are part of a christian movement that they are particularly evil? I'm really not seeing the connection. Folks aren't posting their mansions or their Bentleys.

These are the televangelists of the internet.

Yes, this distributed community of folks who encourage each other to do good works in their neighborhoods === individual preachers who built up cults of personality and who defrauded folks of their money.

You clearly have a lot of passion for this topic and I'd love to hear a more reasonable critique, when you have the time, and perhaps when your blinding rage isn't clouding your mind.
posted by wemayfreeze at 8:54 PM on September 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


Looking & reading Kinfolk I find it really hard to tell if they are serious - for instance the tone & the name dropping in this article are just plain strange to me ART OF DAYTIME DRINKING.

Knowing that Kinfolk is published by Mormons makes me love that article. "Oh, people like drinking. There's a thing called 'day drinking.' They like drinking wine, yes? During the day? Sometimes in glasses, sometimes in bottles? Quick, let's look up 'brunch' on yelp. Here are some brunch restaurant names. And some mixed drinks we have heard about. We're cool. We're with it."
posted by lunasol at 8:56 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


The fact that Kinfolk is published by Mormons should be considered a derail in this thread. It's meaningless — they publish articles about coffee and about alcohol. There is an interesting piece to be written about the extent to which the publishers' Mormon beliefs influence (or don't) the content of the magazine. I haven't seen it.

Without that analysis, the fact that they are Mormon serves only to further the LOLXIANS.
posted by wemayfreeze at 9:02 PM on September 7, 2015


u clearly have a lot of passion for this topic and I'd love to hear a more reasonable critique, when you have the time, and perhaps when your blinding rage isn't clouding your mind.

Walter Sobchak: "Calmer than you are."
posted by Xavier Xavier at 9:11 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


Cmd+F "kinspiracy"

Wow, really? Nothing?

Go look at that, it's worth a chuckle.
posted by emptythought at 9:13 PM on September 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


Feels like the Kony 2012 folks. Upper-middle-class white San Diego/Orange County evangelicals

I actually know some of the Kony 2012 folks and for the most part that is exactly what they are--but the one Invisible Children/Kony 2012 person that I know very well actually moved from San Diego to Portland a few years back.

So this Instagram account was very, very on point ("living the PNW life" interposed with "Jesus" and "authentic"? hah, yeah) even before I read that it was parodying a particular flavor of evangelicalism.

Social justice-oriented evangelicalism, with a heaping big blind spot for diversity in the US but lots of activism elsewhere and yes very anti-sex trade, is super big right now. To me, this Instagram account is parodying that strain of evangelicalism broadly as much as Socality specifically.
posted by librarylis at 9:25 PM on September 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


the fact that they are Mormon serves only to further the LOLXIANS.

I am as far from LOLXIANs as someone here usually gets, and I think there is a meaningful connection in the celebration of simplicity, wholesomeness, normalness (for lack of a better word) and pro-social values through a carefully crafted aesthetic lens. And I don't mean that in a bad way. I see a lot of continuity there. I mean, I can see how you mean "without analysis" but I do think there is an analysis to be made there.
posted by Miko at 9:31 PM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Kinspiracy: that's interesting too. There's really a whole lot going on here, but my brain is too tired to think about it.
posted by Miko at 9:37 PM on September 7, 2015


They're using the same tactics as ISIS? Really? Hashtags and talking to people?

Other than literally that one comment you called out, i'm not seeing much lol xtians here. More that this is just weird and creepy.

It's not the religious aspect of it, although that's a thing, it's that the whole socality thing and the site(completely with talk of a "keynote") and stuff has weird like... cultish vibes to it. And browsing that hashtag really is freaking creepy. It's a sea of identikit photos, with almost identical profiles, of extremely similar looking white people. It's like, stepford wives levels of conformity to being "authentic" and "down to earth" and "conscious" or whatever.

I think it's completely possible to be supremely creeped and skeezed out by this without those feelings being rooted in some tired lolreligion thing. The religious element is a whole other layer, but it's like, the tomato slices on a sandwich of unsettling crap.
posted by emptythought at 9:46 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


weird like... cultish vibes

Well, I don't know how a religious network is going to avoid giving that impression to someone who isn't religious or maybe just isn't that accustomed to religious gatherings. It doesn't appear at all cultish to me. It looks extremely straightforward.

I was having some fun comparing it to the Wild Goose religious community and festival - also #NotACult - but something that probably looks pretty weird on the outside, and isn't allll that different from Socality except maybe more hippie-ish/justice-focused. Or the article I was reading yesterday about the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly, which yes, does have keynotes, and breakout sessions, and other conference events. I mean at some level, get-togethers to exchange information and inspire each other are a normal religious activity, and they don't have to be cultish. Yes, people have festivals and conferences.

To me, coming from some familiarity with evangelical institutions of youth control via family participation and my own interests, Socality looks a whole lot more open, distributed and less cultish than most of those have been.
posted by Miko at 10:02 PM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Socality folks are pretty middle-of-the-road evangelical and are supremely inoffensive, unless you're primed to find any and all christian intercourse (in the non-sex way, duh) offensive.

Given the many connections between "evangelical" Christians (either as organized groups/churches or as individuals) and right-wing or reactionary political and social positions, I reserve the right to be highly suspicious of an evangelical movement that communicates solely via marketing-speak gobbledegook and offers no real information on their actual beliefs and positions.

They support building wells in Uganda? Distribute blankets to the homeless? (Actually, it seems to be more like they support a small fashion house that distributes blankets to the homeless, which adds a layer of distance between Socality and "good works" and an explicitly commercial element that this Gen-X'er finds . . . . . facile and superficial.) Fight the sex-slave trade? Great. Good for them. But these are things that the crustiest, crankiest Methodist or Episcopalian or whatever churches do as well. I'm not willing to call them "inoffensive" until and unless, say for example, they state whether they want to rescue women from the sex-slave trade because no human being should be subject to that, or whether they want to rescue women from the sex-slave trade so they can take their proper Biblical place as child-bearers subservient to their husbands.
posted by soundguy99 at 10:30 PM on September 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


I think it's the dressing it up in the Hip Now and With It aesthetic and trying to tie it into general instagram trends and present it as Not A Church! that skeeves me out. I'm a catholic school boy(at least for a few years, not my whole education) and i'm quite familiar with going to church, parish activities, sunday school, etc. I'm not the kind of reddity militant atheist to call that stuff indoctrination or whatever.

It's when people front things like this as basically a fashion movement but with like a mission statement and ethos and keynotes that it seems like some kind of lead-on/indoctrination to me.

As i said above, it's not the religious aspects that make it creepy, those are just the endgame. It's the foreplay and outward facing image stuff.
posted by emptythought at 10:44 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


More that this is just weird and creepy.

I think Miko's comment gets at what I'm seeing: a general distrust of these evangelical christians organizing. I hear that people can be turned off by christians in general — soundguy99 perfectly encapsulates that perspective — but I guess I'm frustrated seeing that simple-minded approach taken here.

Weird and creepy because you don't understand it === LOLXIANS in my book.

The fact that a lot of the people look similar and espouse similar values and aesthetics … that describes the majority of social movements (broadly speaking) throughout history.
posted by wemayfreeze at 10:47 PM on September 7, 2015


On a different tact, please check out Barbie Style. It's official Mattel, done in the style of the endless 'fashionistas' on Instagram but rather than a parody, completely earnest about it, and dammit I love it.

I think I mainly love it for the craftmanship. Someone out there is making Chanel, Valentino, Hermes and Celine bags for Barbie and Friends and they are adorbs and On Point.

I would honestly expect myself to want to burn this account with fire and ice but I can't. She has the best Throwback Thursdays.
posted by like_neon at 1:28 AM on September 8, 2015 [2 favorites]


The photos in #socality are indistinguishable from 90% of Instagram.

I beg to differ as there is a distinct lack of cats.
posted by bile and syntax at 3:03 AM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]


It looks to me like furnace.heart is a bit creepier than Socality. I'm all LOLXIANS as much as any dutiful atheist asshole. But Socality (and Kinship, though seemingly off topic) seems like a lot of humorless empty calories. Not much to LOL at in the first place.

I found furnace.heart's passion interesting, though weirdly vitriolic. Socality simply doesn't look like it warrants that kind of passion, not even from its adherents, let alone critics. For all the criticism, I'm left thinking, "so what?"
posted by 2N2222 at 5:22 AM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]


Someone out there is making Chanel, Valentino, Hermes and Celine bags for Barbie and Friends and they are adorbs and On Point.

I was pretty impressed with Socality Barbie's tiny Hudson's Bay blanket.

I guess it's kind of early to tell, right? I mean, Socality is clearly a project launched by one guy, Scott Bakken. I would expect that Bakken has designs on being the next Rob Bell (who, now that I think about, had already started carving out this laid-back, openhearted, West-Coast-y Christianity several years ago). Maybe he'll really keep it focused on expansive ideas of this as a movement and a community; maybe he'll end up going down a corrupt path like some others; maybe he'll hover somewhere in the middle like untold numbers of pastors who build enough of a following to make a living on it, but don't change the face of religion writ large.

As for politics, I'm also withholding judgment there until there's more to go on. I really welcome anything that puts the value of service back in front of people and tries to make it hip and appealing. That, to me, is a good cultural development, and there is really helpful stuff done even by people whose politics I find abhorrent and who I end up battling on other fronts. I don't see anything to indicate conservatism here - if anything, it seems to subtly oppose conservatism, but it's hard to say because there's just not really any big track record to go by. One thing I will say, having been following the Christian left for some time, is that there's definitely space for a strain of social activism that is not partisan and resists political alliances - in fact, that that's a pretty radical stance to take, to just say "let's feed and clothe people and clean up the environment and show compassion and kindness across the board and screw anyone who wants to make this about party politics and the issues being used to polarize and alienate us from one another." There is a Gospels-driven streak in Christianity which usefully sidesteps all the forces at work in contemporary culture to polarize and just says: get to work helping. It may be that this group takes that sort of approach and shrugs off politics. Of course, it may not. Too soon to tell.

Given recent decades in the history of evangelicalism, I can understand being wary about anything that presents itself with that moniker. At the same time, that conservative trajectory has been part of a recent-ish zeitgeist and the result of some particular power coalitions that are fraying, and we are on overtime for the pendulum to swing back to a socially engaged, justice-focused Christianity. Maybe this is a bellwether. Maybe not, too soon to tell.

If anything the criticisms based on the importation of commodifying structures into the religious sphere bother me more - the shiny-ness, the high level of design and image-making, the cross-media sensibility. I do wonder how that stuff squares with gospel-based Christian values. At the same time, is using image and design in religious outreach anything new? Nah - it's just that this design, this community, these communication platforms intersect in more obvious ways with the regular lives of contemporary urban people who have probably missed the marketing and media efforts of hundreds of more conventional religious movements for whom they weren't the target market. This one, people are noticing because we're on Instagram and because it looks like the stuff people - including maybe our friends - post on Instagram. It doesn't look like treacly Bible verses with cartoon puppies saying #blessed and other stuff that a "netstream" person might read read as stylistically not for us, it looks maybe closer to home for certain sectors. And, frankly, in my professional life I spend tons and tons of time advocating for crusty old institutions to start learning the basic lessons of speaking through design and high production values in order to reach just this audience, instead of turning it off. I'd love it if my church could develop such slick-looking tools, even as I sort of treasure the ways my own religious values push me to work to embrace the scruffy, badly made, awkward, dated, embarrassingly not-ready-for-prime-time look of many things and people in the world, recognizing that surface values are not the ones I'm being asked to respond to. So there's an interesting discussion there to be had about Christianity and image, but I don't think it's fair to just focus on this site, when we've had Christian TV networks and websites and Facebook groups and hashtags and bands and festivals and all kinds of other things for years that attempted to build religious networks around contemporizing the Christian image. Like I said, this one is just the most recent, and for certain audiences, maybe the most visually effective.

So, staying tuned.
posted by Miko at 6:20 AM on September 8, 2015 [5 favorites]


"kinspiracy"

Our love's in jeopardy, baby -- ooooh, ooh, oooh ooooooh
posted by AzraelBrown at 6:25 AM on September 8, 2015


...Charitable things that are the least controversial ever, like being anti-sex slavery. Wowee, what a stance! Finally someone is speaking out that sex slavery is wrong. Trailblazers.

MetaFilter: Your charity isn't edgy enough for us.
posted by MikeMc at 9:03 AM on September 8, 2015 [3 favorites]


I give to some pretty obscure charities. You probably haven't heard of them.
posted by RobotHero at 9:33 AM on September 8, 2015 [4 favorites]


As a non-religious person, rightfully or wrongly, the word "evangelical" reads "ulterior motive", not "social justice".
posted by smidgen at 9:44 AM on September 8, 2015


Okay yeah, it's kind of weird complaint that your charity isn't controversial enough. But kind of like
soundguy99 says, and some of the other elements of calculated image, it's easy to get the feeling that it's another element of marketing themselves. Like they workshopped it and chose who they were going to help based on who would help the #Socality brand.
posted by RobotHero at 10:26 AM on September 8, 2015 [2 favorites]


the word "evangelical" reads "ulterior motive", not "social justice"

I guess by that you might mean that you've been habituated to that by the activities of people who have been using the term to define themselves over the last few decades. But (and I don't mean to be pedantic, you probably know this) it isn't only a sort of a synonym for those things, or for conservatism, or dickishness, or ulterior motives, - it is a slippery term, I think initially coined to connote an orientation to referring to the Gospels as a central text, and also the belief that believers should help win others to the faith. The term's most vocal users have kind of poisoned the well, there, though. I found this Patheos piece that talks about "affiliation-based" vs. "theological" evangelism, which is a way of describing those difference in nuance.

It bums me out that they're using it, because I wish it were actually a broad-based coalition of people from more than one tradition (not just Protestant), but that's what they're about, and I'm a total heretic anyway so GYODmovement, I guess.
posted by Miko at 11:41 AM on September 8, 2015 [2 favorites]


But wait, this isn't my area, but isn't "sodality" a Catholic term? Is this riffing on that, or a coincidence?
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:00 PM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]


So You Think You Can Instagram


Of course, this was published ages ago and other more hipster mass publications are only beginning to catch up. Wired did it before it was popular. Hurrrr.


~~ ♫.*・。゚b who you wanna b .*・。゚♪♬ -- B-A-R-B-I-E ~~
posted by pos at 9:47 PM on September 10, 2015


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