No device encapsulates the paradoxes and contradictions of our societies as precisely as dating apps. Through Tinder and others apps like Bumble or Grindr, tensions and concepts such as desire and shame, privacy and intimacy, or norm and dissent can be investigated. It can also be explained how platforms conquer increasingly larger portions of our attention or that, despite discourses that use the label “middle class” as a mirage in which anyone can fit, social classes continue to exist and habits and customs continue to be its markers. Furthermore, Tinder, with its matchesis a practical demonstration of what the sociologist Eva Illouz develops in The end of love: in contemporary societies negative choice has replaced classical choice based on selection. Or what is the same: faced with the excess of possibilities, today we choose by discarding, that is, by sliding our thumb to the left.
Perhaps because the use of these applications generates such varied questions, the analyzes from within them always go beyond literary genres and have something of a personal chronicle, an artistic project and an essay. It is the case of Love me, Tinder, by Estela Ortiz and Nuria Gómez Gabriel, a work in which the authors highlight that, although the male profiles on Tinder are apparently infinite, they present so many similarities between themselves that all this potential variety can be grouped into just ten categories. So, although their developers claim to promote diversity, in practice users of the apps dates end up building very similar profiles. The result is that, in such a mimetic environment, the freedom for those who choose is very reminiscent of that which Eduardo Galeano spoke of when referring to capitalism: that of choosing between the same and the same.
Something similar has been noticed by the artist Matilde Duarte, who has just launched Match: A visual study of representative self-display in Tinder profiles (Match; a visual study of representative self-display in Tinder profiles), a book featuring 1,572 profile photos taken from the app. They are grouped according to poses and scenarios, and the compositions and gestures are, as the title of the publication already warns, very repetitive: there are dozens of ship bows, sunsets and climbing walls. “Tinder photos, at the end of the day, are a reflection of what there is, of what already exists,” explains Duarte. “So the phenomena that appear in the app They can be observed in other places, such as in a shopping center where people of the same social class purchase the same goods and services with a feeling of freedom that I cannot say if it is real or apparent. It is something that philosophers explain Horkheimer and Adorno“People with the same car model, or the same purchasing power, often meet in identical hotels, have very similar conversations and discover that as their isolation grows, they become more and more similar.”
That photography, already democratized thanks to mobile phones with integrated cameras, is a practice that serves as an “index and instrument of social integration” is something that Pierre Bourdieu already mentioned in A medium art, essay written in 1965. The French sociologist defends that “even the most insignificant photograph expresses, in addition to the explicit intentions of the person who made it, the schemes of perception, thought and appreciation common to an entire group.” So, if the mechanisms behind dating apps serve to explain many things about ourselves, the photographs we upload to them are even more eloquent. Especially because they are portraits, one of the artistic genres that have evolved the most over the centuries, adjusting during each era to certain cultural conventions that continue to exist. What is not so clear is that finding the love of your life is as easy as applying those unwritten rules about framing, composition and fit.
The democratization of the portrait and the pose
Tatiana Sentamans is a professor at the UMH Arts Research Center and believes that if we often do not notice the particularities or the symbolic load of the images that surround us, it is because “photography is something that is embedded so well in all levels and in all social strata that, with all its visibility, ends up becoming imperceptible.” That is why she defends that it is advisable to be critical of images no matter where they come from, especially because behind the apparent spontaneity of any photograph, there are always codes. “Homogenization has to do with categories defined by visual codes for a long time that are intertwined with complex cultural contexts for each place and for each moment. Not only Tinder photos can be grouped; Categories can also be established throughout history because, above all, the portraits tend to be the same,” explains the expert.
So to understand contemporary photography, and that includes the one prepared and uploaded by anonymous users to their dating applications, it is necessary to start from the pictorial portrait. “In the past, only members of the royal family, nobles and some politicians had the right to have their own image, to represent themselves. Silhouette cutting was a very fun practice, a form of cheap portraiture that was carried out at fairs and other parties, but it has been the technological development of photography that has democratized the visual construction of oneself,” Sentamans recapitulates.
For example, the fact that those portrayed, on Tinder or any other medium, continue to appear with rehearsed gestures or postures, that is, they continue posing, is one of the most explicit legacies that centuries of portraits have projected onto our daily photographs. As much as it may seem forced or artificial and although it has not been a technical requirement for decades, we continue posing. “The pose is inherent to the portrait,” the professor points out. “Firstly because the subject portrayed had to sit or lie down for long hours so that the painter could carry out the work and then because the photographic devices were enormous and the exposure times were very long. Until optics were developed, the person who went to a photography studio had to be motionless in a very specific position. Then, thanks to technological advances, photography appears candidwhich is captured spontaneously, without preparation, but you have not had time to build your own image, which is what we are looking for.”
Embrace the disorder to talk about yourself
At this point, we already know that nothing, not even on Tinder, is casual in a photograph. And although projects like Duarte's handle profile photos as if they were documentary photography to reach certain sociological conclusions, we must not forget that the first thing those who upload those photos look for is to attract the attention of others. In that direction and to prevent our profile from being discarded in tenths of a second, photographer Lucía Alonso offers some reflections, more as an image professional than as a user who “has barely had good experiences in the app”.
“You have to find a middle ground between the most boring normality and mystery,” says the photographer. “Of course, I think we should present ourselves as we really are, without le
aving too much room for imagination or mystery, because if in the end the date with an idealized person goes wrong, that will frustrate us.” And as for the images, is there any trick to taking or having good photos taken of us? “The line that previously marked what was a good portrait is now drawn differently,” explains Alonso. “The shots, lighting and settings have changed, a good portrait can be a bathroom selfie in any bar in Malasaña. The technique no longer matters so much as the vibe it conveys. If it talks about you, you look good and you choose it so that someone chooses you, okay.”
The photographer insists in that perfection or technical expertise are not relevant in flirting photos. Furthermore, these are values that, in general, are priced downwards compared to “aesthetics.” dosmilera and ugliness.” “It looks much clearer on Instagram than on dating apps. Even in fashion or wedding photography, technically perfect is no longer so popular, rather hectic photos are sought. [poco nítidas por la vibración de la propia cámara] or with flash, that erases factions. We are embracing the messy, the poorly framed, the small mess. And it's not bad to follow the trend if those things really speak about you.” So Alonso only dares to give some concrete practical advice: “Please, do not upload photos where you have cut off the friend next to you, but you leave his shoulder inside him.”
As if she were an addicted user, Matilde Duarte estimates that she exposed herself to around 50,000 photos in four months to make her selection. “At the end of the investigation my ability to discern between familiar and unknown faces decreased. In other words: everyone sounded familiar to me,” she recalls. Tinder is very likely the largest collection of portraits in the universe, and they all look so similar that, beyond the similarities in pose and format, it works as a huge proof of everything we have in common. It's not discouraging: it's the things that unite us that usually cause a match. And, at least today, we can choose, something that those princesses of the 19th century could not do. XVI whose court portraits served as a presentation before the distant king with whom they would be forced to marry.
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