Global Journal of Human Social Science, C: Sociology and Culture, Volume 22 Issue 6

O ‘Selfie’! O Narcissus: The Mythologico-Cultural Imposition of Late-Capitalistic Tools in the Present Digital World Abstract- The paper propounds that the late-capitalistic tools were imposed in the once-colonialized countries through establishing a myth in the arena of Cell phones. The paper, taking only individual (?) selfies into account, endeavours to discover how a selfie (a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a Smartphone or webcam and shared via social media) is being used by some Late- capitalistic powers or some multinational companies/ organizations to promote the narcissistic idea of beauty in order to run their products in the market. Secondly, it delves into the means through which late-capitalistic powers are controlling people by making them victims of advancing digital world. In doing so, the paper incorporates Roland Barthes’ Mythologies , Fredric Jameson’s idea regarding the relationship between postmodern society and “late capitalism” and Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer’s “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception”. Then, it displays how the ideology of having selfie gives an impression of an existential vacuum inside a human mind and it alienates a person from the others of a society to some extent. The paper concludes with the view that in sharing an element of any culture, people should first be aware of its consequences. Keywords: selfie, late- capitalistic, culture, narcissistic. I. I ntroduction he recent developments and inventions in the field of technology have showered the human civilization with enormous facilities. As a result, sharing of cultural elements among different countries has become easier and more flexible. This sharing of the most of the elements, without doubt, in most cases, entails positive cultural notions. But thinking deeply will obviously demonstrate that there are some incongruent elements of/in a culture/s that should be avoided. In running with the idea of Globalization- the world is like a village where the countries are like next door neighbours, the countries have to, to a great extent, share (?!) cultural elements, technological facilities, and ideological stances. Through this sharing, cross-culturation occurs. Sometimes this cross- culturation brings positive feedback and sometimes negative. So, before choosing/taking/granting any element of a culture, people have to be aware of the impacts that the element is going to have on a person, a society, and a culture. The idea of Selfie (a photograp h that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a Smartphone or webcam and shared via social media 1 ) is not an old one because much has been said and much virtual ink has be en spilled over the past few years. The Oxford Dictionary chose the word selfi as word of the year 2013. 2 Very recently , a s reported by Olivia Solon in Mirrror in 2014, Twitter has announced the year 2014 as the year of the Selfie. 3 In many countries, sharing Selfie is as much a part of any other cultural elements. Nowadays, Selfie has become a very common phenomenon among the people (mostly young people) all over the world. According to Kristina Robb- Do ver, ‘…selfies are the lifeblood of social media, and no profile is complete without at least a few of them’. 4 1 Oxford Languages , For a full discussion, see https://www.google . com/search?q=selfie+definition&sxsrf=ALiCzsaC7NM-T0V6Npf03dX 9Pq6Q0IplmQ%3A1663335300784&ei=hHskY76-L6Kf3LUPuvmf8AU &oq=selfie+definition&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYATIECCMQJzIEC CMQJzIECCMQJzIKCC4QsQMQ1AIQQzIKCC4QsQMQ1AIQQzIHCAA QsQMQQzIECAAQQzIECC4QQzIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAESgQIQRgAS gQIRhgAUABYAGD7DGgAcAB4AIABlAGIAZQBkgEDMC4xmAEAwAE B&sclient=gws-wiz (accessed 16 September 2022). 2 Silvia Killingsworth, ‘And the word of the year is’, The New Yorker , 19 November 2013, For a full discussion, see https://www.newyorker . com/culture/culture-desk/and-the-word-of-the-year-is#:~:text=Hold% 20on%20to%20your%20monocles,used%20in%202002%2C%20in%20 an (accessed 16 September 2022). 3 Olivia Solon, ‘2014 was “year os the Selfie” on Twitter- with Ellen’s Oscars photo triggering endless imitators’, Mirror , 10 December 2014, For a full discussion, see https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology- science/technology/2014-year-selfie-twitter---4783195 (accessed 2 September 2022). But too much use of it in many countries has taken it to a level of criticism. It has become a very regular part of daily activities among the young people that they are frequently hanging around and taking Selfies to upload in the social media. The research finds out why the young people are so much attracted to picking Selfie and what the reasons that are driving people, especially young people, to have this kind of pictures. Various pushing factors are there behind taking selfies. They 4 Kristina Robb-Dover, ‘Obsessive Selfies: What a Photo Reel May Reveal About Me ntal Health’, FHEHealth , 15 January 2021, For a full discussion, see https://fherehab.com/learning/selfies-mental-health (accessed 16 September 2022). T © 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue VI Version I 71 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 C Md. Didar Hossain α & Azmain Tanjim σ Author α : Assistant Professor, English Language Institute, United International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. e-mail: didarmunna1@gmail.com Author σ : Bachelor of Social Science, East West University. e-mail: aaaatanjimm@gmail.com