Aurélien Daudi
Dept of Sport Sciences, Malmö University
“Fitspiration” (a fusion of the words fitness and inspiration) is a digital phenomenon that has been greatly influential in the realm of photo-based social media during the last decade. It is a visual subculture centered around topics related to fitness and primarily emphasizes bodily appearance through photographs posted on platforms like Instagram. While it ostensibly aims to inspire healthier lifestyles, fitspiration often prioritizes aesthetic displays, fostering widespread self-sexualization, and has been linked in various ways to a rise in psychological maladies.
Having previously tackled several key aspects responsible for these developments, in this article I turn my attention to the nature of the self-representational photograph and the medium through which the aesthetic practices characteristic of fitspiration are facilitated. I examine the aesthetic and psychological implications of our cultural turn toward visual communication, and the influence of the form of such communication on its content, particularly through the lens of Nietzsche’s aesthetic philosophy and the dichotomy of the Apolline and Dionysiac. Set against the backdrop of a mental health crisis primarily afflicting those most avidly committed to the realm of visual communication, I argue that platforms like Instagram, which heavily emphasize visual self-representation, epitomize Apolline ideals of surface and appearance, leading to a culture fixated on displays of beauty and self-glorification. Whereas Nietzsche proceeds from the question how the ugliness and discord central to ancient tragic myth can produce aesthetic pleasure, I propose that we must proceed from the inverse relationship, examining why glorification of appearances and conspicuous beauty instead ends up compounding suffering.
The fitspiration phenomenon is illustrative of a broader cultural shift towards performativity, self-beautification, and glorification of reality, which, according to empirical studies, is often associated with a host of negative psychological effects.
The article begins by investigating the ontological nature of self-representational photography and social media imagery. It suggests that the concept of reality inherent in these photographs fails to hold up to scrutiny, noting that while some are clearly edited or staged, others appear more “real” but still may not accurately reflect reality. Despite photographs often being perceived as mere windows onto a reality unaffected by their mediating effects, the medium of photography compresses complex, multi-dimensional experiences into simplified visual representations, inevitably sacrificing nuances in the process. For the self-representational photograph, especially, the notion of posing further disturbs its claim to realism. Even unedited and seemingly unposed self-representational photographs involve a form of posing, creating curated and artificial representations. Thus, self-representational photographs convey a form of illusionary realism, where subjects perform a constructed version of reality rather than authentically represent it. This pseudo-reality becomes the new standard, pressuring users to continually conform to these artificial norms and perpetuating a cycle of performative expressions and self-comparisons, constituting what I call performative social media.
The fitspiration phenomenon is illustrative of a broader cultural shift towards performativity, self-beautification, and glorification of reality, which, according to empirical studies, is often associated with a host of negative psychological effects. The article underscores that these developments stem first and foremost from the intrinsic properties of the medium itself, which is biased toward promoting a certain type of engagement focused on appearance rather than substance. The core thesis posits that this Apolline dominance in social media fosters a superficial existence, detaching users from communion with the deeper, Dionysiac experiences of life from which emotional and existential depth chiefly derives. Nietzsche’s aesthetic philosophy and the dialectic between the dual forces represented by the titular Greek deities are employed to explore how this imbalance contributes to psychological distress rather than the promised self-empowerment and satisfaction.
Drawing on Nietzsche’s rendition of Apollo and Dionysus in The Birth of Tragedy, the article delineates the Apolline as associated with order, beauty, and surface, while the Dionysiac represents chaos, emotional depth, and the underlying tragic truths of human existence. The argument is that modern social media overwhelmingly promotes Apolline qualities, neglecting the Dionysiac aspects that are crucial for a balanced and fulfilling human experience. This neglect, propelled by the hegemonic status of social media in the present communications landscape, leads to a fractured consciousness where individuals are enticed into a perpetual cycle of aggrandizing self-representational practices centered around superficial validation. Because, in a profound sense, it obscures the reality of human suffering and mortality, which the Dionysian perspective seeks to address and integrate, this culture of performative self-representation is inherently flawed.
In conclusion, this article calls for a critical reevaluation of our engagement with visual social media and raised awareness regarding how it influences us, individually and culturally. It suggests that a reintegration of Dionysian elements into our symbolic environment and cultural practices, especially in the irreversible context of a media environment centered around visual communication, could provide a more holistic approach to life. It advocates for a balance that allows for the expression of deeper, more authentic aspects of the self, which are currently overshadowed by the dominant culture of surface-level beauty and performances oriented around compulsive self-aggrandizement. This would involve embracing the imperfections and emotional depths of human experience, rather than adhering strictly to the Apolline ideal of palliative but ultimately illusive appearances, as suggested and incentivized by the Apolline medium of Instagram. By doing so, the article posits that modern culture could better accommodate the narrative and evaluative elements viewed by Nietzsche as essential for rectifying the lack of existential nourishment of which the modern era suffers, thus fostering a more well-adjusted cultural milieu and the conditions for individuals to achieve greater psychological well-being.
Copyright © Aurélien Daudi 2025
