Screenshot of posts tagged with #selfieking on Tumblr
CHICAGO — The race for selfie king is on. James Franco’s piece in the New York Timesnow rivals Benny Winfield Jr.’s interview in VICE. “Selfies are something new to me, but as I have become increasingly addicted to Instagram, I have been accused of posting too many of them. I was called out on the Today show, and have even been called the selfie king,” writes Franco. Meanwhile, months ago, Benny Winfield Jr., a seemingly “normal 37-year-old who works as a customer service rep, lives in the suburbs of Houston,” and works as a tutor in his spare time, declared himself “King of the Selfie Movement.” A regular dude, Winfield rose to Instagram fame by posting countless selfies, making sure he made pretty much the same expression every time.
Winfield’s selfies are an attempt at being seen, whereas Franco’s celebrity selfies offer staged intimate moments, revealed to the public as privileged ones. Franco notes that the celebrity selfie says to viewers, “Here is a bit of my private life,” which recalls what I wrote about in my theory of the selfie. Winfield’s selfies, on the other hand, say, “Look at me.” There are multiple selfie kings, not just one.
Read the full post on Hyperallergic: http://hyperallergic.com/100648/crowning-the-selfie-king/
