we're turning ourselves into 'action figures'
do we feel powerless?
People are turning themselves into action figures using Chat GPT’s new image generator. I even jumped on the trend and made some of myself. This one was my favourite:
Followed closely by this one: (Nice to see that Chat GPT has a sense of humour.)
(Plus, I’ve got a little surprise for you readers at the end of this post.)
It’s not just our uncool relatives on Facebook who are turning themselves into hermetically sealed dolls. Forbes is writing about it. There are YouTube tutorials about how to make one. Celebrities are doing it - even Brooke Shields, who’s been made into a real life doll before.
Because looking too deeply into everything is one of my hobbies, I propose that ‘fun novelty’ isn’t the only reason this trend has taken root lately.
It’s understandable that many of us feel at sea, even fearful, at the moment. As I’ve written before, we’re:
We’ve recently weathered major economic fluctuations. There’s an unstable, unlawful leader at the helm of the USA, one of the world’s biggest power centres. Scientific research and environmental progress are being treated as superfluous, far right hate is on the rise everywhere, and Andrew Tate wants to run for prime minister of the UK while he’s facing a human rights trial for rape, abuse and coercive control. Previously guaranteed human rights in first world countries are disappearing.
Perhaps becoming an action figure - seeing ourselves as a mini-hero - is giving us a tiny thrill of power. And power is something we aren’t feeling we have much of right now.
A hero gets to fight evil, but that can feel impossible for us regular humans. The sheer enormity of ‘the system’ can make its moral failings feel insurmountable and appear permanent.
A quick reminder - we’re not as powerless as we feel. There are so many more of us than there are unethical leaders. Remember, most of the world banded together to eventually beat the Nazis back - albeit in the context of war. Still, collective action is, and always will be, the way to stop terrible things from happening.
Besides, there are things individuals can do to contribute to a kinder world, without necessarily becoming ‘involved with politics’. Take the very enthusiastic Corey Fleischer. Under the name Erasing Hate, he removes hate-speech graffiti and tattoos for free.
Reassurances aside, many of us are still, rightly, feeling sickened by how things are right now. Some of us might be in a state of moral distress. Moral distress is a term created in 1984 by philosopher Andrew Jameton to describe, “the suffering nurses experience when institutional or systemic barriers prevent them from acting with integrity.”
Examples of moral distress listed by Psychology Today include,
People caught within sociocultural grievances or injustices, and the impending sense that nothing will ever change.
Tectonic shifts in what is considered acceptable ‘civic’ and ‘civil’ behavior, and not having those values respected — individually or collectively.
The sense that the ‘other side’ of the sociopolitical divide is wreaking existential harm and feeling powerless to do anything about it.
Sounds familiar.
And I bet it would sound just as familiar to someone on the far right. We’re in a weird place; almost everyone who isn’t rich right now is feeling aggrieved at systems of power. (At least we have that in common.) Many of us just disagree about what people, parties and institutions constitute those systems of power.
Living with moral distress can wreak haywire on our nervous systems, heighten negative emotions and make us extremely stressed.
Perhaps making cute little action figures of ourselves has been a fun temporary salve. Seeing ourselves as more powerful than we feel right now is…aspirational.
It’s also a form of self-objectification - which might sound bad - but, in this case, I think it can be a good thing.
It’s often depressing and dehumanising to be treated as an object - usually when someone else is objectifying us. Being objectified by others can create low self esteem, make us feel our agency and choice have been taken away, and can even be a sign of impending danger (for example, in cases of sexual objectification).
But sometimes, it can be fun to play with ourselves as if we’re objects.
We learn to do so as children, seeing ourselves in our GI Joe, Barbie and (if we’re budding serial killers) Chucky dolls. Perhaps doll play is a familiar feeling from childhood that has sparked joy in us again. I know that when I generated my own action figure, I felt a tiny thrill of legitimacy. When I saw myself as a silly plastic writer doll, I strangely felt a bit more like a real writer.
Our harmless action figure trend isn’t that big a deal. It’s not life-changing news, but I’m of the opinion that meaning can be found wherever we look for it.
May we all remember that we’re not trapped in plastic, strapped into a box. We are real life action figures, and when we put our minds to it, there’s much we can do.
