On Internet Aesthetics

UGLY – When reading about the ugliness of Internet content such as memes, I thought about some of the most repulsive content from my own browsing experience. Minion memes, specifically non-ironic ones often posted by middle-aged Facebook moms came to mind. While searching for these on Google Images, I made the connection of these memes to the even more aesthetically unflattering "deep-fried memes." This category of meme aesthetics is known for its uncomfortably high saturation which is repulsive to the eye. I am not sure about the origin of this aesthetic, but it seems to have appeared out of irony more recently.

BEAUTIFUL – Although this is also mom-Facebook content, I put nominated it as the "Beautiful" image beause of its refreshingness in comparison to the overly edited Minion meme. These are photos that a friend's mom posted on Facebook since moving back to her hometown. It feels so pure and nonproblematic that I feel shameful even putting these two images beside each other. Besides the beautiful subject matter itself, this collection of photos is pleasant for me because it looks like real life—it is not filtered or extremely posed for composition. Instead, it feels like real life.