#Nofilter Generation

Ozempic, buccal fat removal, filler and botox infests Los Angeles and is deterring consumers from watching films because of actors’ expressionless crying or laughter that looks painful.

Directors will cast the most popular and conventionally attractive actors in Hollywood to play roles where the authors of the books or scripts intended for it to be more relatable to the general masses and appropriate for the plot’s time period.

This also shows Hollywood’s lack of diversity or reach to smaller performers, who are cinematically more of a fit while potentially giving them a chance in one of the most competitive industries.

The ‘iPhone Face’ is an online term Gen Z coined for someone who looks like they were born in a generation where social media and smartphones are heavily incorporated. All of the Snapchat and TikTok filters that slightly plump your lips or define your jaw, maybe even arch your brow more are unrealistic beauty standards that were programmed into our phones to make us believe we need to look like that.

There is also nothing wrong with getting work done, however it is such a commonality in society that it almost feels necessary. The rise in cosmetic surgery or procedure dries up ‘timeless’ beauty. That term can mean whatever for whoever but it reassures me that we were never meant to look at ourselves so much and that your natural features make you, you and not just a trend.

I could go deeper by talking about Clavicular or ‘looksmaxxing’ but I rather ration my word count for a saveable cause.

Gen Z could never escape that beauty pressure and truthfully I believe generations going forward will not escape either.

Digital photography recently gained popularity again specifically from Gen Z and I have a feeling a lot of it has to do with ‘iPhone Face’.

On a digital or film camera, the shot is the shot. There is no Facetune or filter that can change the outcome; it is raw and strictly real life.

Of course you can edit a digital photo later due to the accessibility to editing apps, however the original picture was still captured with a nostalgic and grainy look that feels refreshing to see.

Gen Z grew up physically holding family photos that had all that human feelings to it. All of our pictures we take now have an automatic settings adjuster, diminishing the reality of the photo.

I believe Gen Z’s upbringing of constant ‘perfection’ in their face constitutes needed something real in a world of artificial.

Lastly, alongside the casting complaints in Hollywood, online discourse reveals consumers are uninterested in films’ lighting, saying “Every movie nowadays looks like an iPhone commercial with the lighting and color grading.”

In which I do agree with that, I find all movies on the streaming services I subscribe to have this modern look that feels too Youtube video rather than a cinematic entrance.

Now, the film industry will not return to shooting on Super 8’s but the youth yearns for reality and when the largest forms of media are producing beige and unsalted content, they refuse to continue dulling down their life.

XOXO,

☮️