Post-internet Verfremdung

Abstract

The ease of uploading images on Instagram has meant that a whole generation grows up paying closer attention to visual language. At the same time, Instagram and other social media have come to dominate visual culture to the extent that we need to make an effort to unlearn what they have taught us. Here the internet is seen not only as a vital part of visual culture but also as a site of learning. This chapter presents a school assignment as a possible approach to online visual culture. By creating Instagram fiction, we can understand how social media operate both visually and socially. Parody and estrangement, or the Brechtian Verfremdungseffekt, are examples offered to examine a phenomenon and activate critical thinking.