Subculture «tumblr girls»: inconsistencies of virtual identity

Belonging to a particular subculture is traditionally way of person's identity construction. The cybercspace complicates this process, breaking the whole systems into isolated fragments, which perception is difficult. There is a blurring of subcultural boundaries. It becomes ever-more typically for young people the "collecting" of subcultural identities. Thus, the Internet, even if it does not abolish subcultures completely, creates a special networked subspecies. One of such subspecies is "tumblr girls". The word "Tumblr" is an empty denotation, because the representatives of this subculture can post their photos on other Internet platforms (for example, Instagram). This circumstance also complicates the clear identification of this subculture. Basically, affiliation with it is labeled through a series of hashtags. Turning to the appearance of "tumblr girls", we note that visually it is based on fragments of different cultures, including previous subcultures. Due to the inconscient copying of popular styles, the production of the image becomes mechanized and replicated, causing the effect of "copies of copy images of copy images." The aesthetic component of the image of "tumblr girls" is based on the game of contrasts. The first opposition "beautiful - disgusting" consists of mix of the pretty appearance with the "aesthetics of the disgusting", e.g. the use of cockroaches, snakes, etc. as an accessory for photos. The second opposition "external - internal" (or, close to it, "real-virtual") is expressed as follows: the main location of this subculture is a room, exit from which is possible only into virtual space. The room is regarded as "their own" space in opposition to the unfamiliar and "alien" world. Also, as one of the virtual exits, the resort to creativity is regarded as an attempt to construct an ideal world. "Tumbler Girls" hold themselves as creative personalities, but, as a rule, this is a simulation of creativity, the fabrication of secondary products. The third opposition, "natural - artificial" is expressed in the combination in their image pointed naturalness and markers of extraneity, monstrosity, extraterrestriality. The fourth pair is "ailing - healthy" deliberately demonstrates a deviation from the mental norm (as in the upper subcultures), but the shift again occurs within socially approved norms. This is either aestheticized depression, or "sweet madness". Finally, one of the most important oppositions that make up the image of "tumblr girls" is "adult - child". Young appearance and clothes on the order of children's apparel is combined with sexually marked gestures that meet the requirements of "promising femininity" - a socially approved phenomenon. "Tumblr girls" are based on the boundaries of different cultures which semiotic codes are copied and distributed in a virtual environment without comprehension, as rule. Hence, the identity of "tumblr girls" is unformed. The issue of the "tumblr girls" identity, as well as their ideological principles requires amplification.

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