TikTok's Golden Ratio
The Great Pyramids of Giza, Mona Lisa, and Bella Hadid’s face. These three things have one common denominator: their symmetrical and seemingly perfect design. It may seem odd to associate architecture, artwork, and beauty together, but these things are surprisingly interconnected. From two doors on adjacent sides to a perfect, even smile, what humans have innately considered “pleasing to the eye” can be rooted all the way back to the Golden Ratio. This geometrical formula was devised by ancient Greek mathematicians, and has depicted ideal beauty through mathematical proportion for the past four thousand years.
Image Courtesy: The News Messenger
It’s no secret that all things proportionate are aesthetically pleasing, but the newest viral TikTok trend-- the “Deja Vu Challenge”-- has unknowingly promoted ideals of the Golden Ratio for the not so greater good. Since the release of Olivia Rodrigo’s song “Deja Vu,” many people have created videos lip syncing to this song while using the inverted filter, which flips your reflection to a mirrored and horizontal view.
It seems harmless, but people are freaking out over their distorted reflection because it reveals how other people see you. I know when I tried the filter, I was definitely disappointed in what the camera was reflecting back at me. I thought, “This is what I actually look like?” In an attempt to reassure myself, I searched the hashtag “inverted,” only to find videos of people’s faces looking the exact same as their camera shifted from a normal to inverted view. It is this rare “phenomena” that’s the whole point of the trend: to test if the inverted filter alters your face.
As these TikToks become increasingly popular, an unexpected insecurity has lowered many self esteems-- asymmetry. Although exposure to unattainable physical standards is far from new, it seems that recently social media is showing us different insecurities to look for in ourselves everyday... even ones we didn’t know existed. Honestly, before I never thought about symmetry and if my face aligned with the Golden Ratio. Yes, we should enjoy the humor and fun nature of the “Deja Vu challenge,” but it’s concerning that we are giving this trend the power to diminish our self confidence, all over slight imbalances of our faces.
It is important to realize that if we truly want to dismantle Western beauty standards, we must not let something as trivial as asymmetry affect the way we see ourselves. Architect Dennis Carmichael says it best, “Asymmetry doesn’t mean chaos. It means a different way of achieving balance.” Not only is a fully symmetrical face extremely unrealistic, but it is downright impossible unless plastic surgery is involved.
Notions of attractiveness by the ancient Greeks and even cosmetic surgeons should not define what beauty is and looks like to you. The next time you see a friend reacting to their face with the inverted filter, or claim that their profile is uneven on all sides, remember that facial features are meant to uniquely set you apart. It is asymmetry where authenticity and original beauty derives from, and it is the rarest faces who exude stunning imperfection.
Raw edges brush each other
lines incomplete
embrace the feeling of ends that cease to meet.
Strike Out,
Writer: Madison Meadows
Editor: Susanna Skelton
Chattanooga
