Filter realisation
Character looking flawless on camera. Couple of minutes in filter glitches turns off without character knowing based on tiktok live. Comment section on tiktok say things like tired, aged, flawed, ugly, catfish when they see the creators natural face. Comparison of what society believes people should look live verses reality of someone’s natural face.
Are you for real
A phone sits on a tripod, framed by a glowing ring light
ON SCREEN: TikTok live
A young creator smiles into the camera
Their face is impossibly flawless,
Glass skin, sculpted features not a blemish in sight
Hearts float endlessly across the screen
Comments:
“your perfect”
“drop the skincare routine”
“your glowing”
“I wish I looked like you”
The creator laughs
Creator:
“thank you are all so sweet “
Without any warning the screen glitches
For a split second, pixels scramble
Then the beauty filter disappears
The creator doesn’t notice
They continue talking, smiling naturally
Their real face is now visible pores,
faint acne scars, under eye shadows,
uneven skin tone. A face that looks lived in.
A face that looks human.
The comments stop
Silence
Then one by one, they begin
“you look tired”
“wait… that’s your real face”
“you looked better before”
“your ageing”
“that’s disappointing”
“catfish”
“ugly”
Soon the words pour down the screen
Faster than anyone can read them.
The creator is still answering questions
Completely unaware that strangers have
Already decided their worth has changed in
A matter of seconds.
The live stream freezes
Black
A spotlight reveals two mirrors.
The first mirror reflects the filtered version
Perfect
Impossible
Artificial
The second mirror reflects the creators
Natural face
Textured
Expressive
Real
A voice breaks the silence
Voice:
When did perfection become more believable than reality?
We have stared at edited faces for to long that we’ve started
Calling human features imperfections
Pores become flaws
Wrinkles become failures
Scars become something to erase
We forget that every face tells a story no filter can recreate
Maybe were not comparing people to other people anymore
Maybe were comparing them to software
The two mirrors slowly merge into one
The flawless reflection fades away
Only the real face remains
The creator finally looks up
Not at the camera
Not at the comments
At themselves
They smile
Not because their real
The screen fades to black
Are you for real?
Or has “real” become something we’ve
Forgotten how to recognise.