Allie Rowbottom’s Novel Aesthetica shows the dark side of Instagram | Tech Reddy

Anna Wray (@annawray) is an influencer on the rise. His fans love him, his career is growing every day and he is close to 100K followers. It’s 2017, it’s the peak of Instagram, Kylie Jenner still has her lipstick on, and the app hasn’t been taken down by bots. As she seeks to increase her profile, Anna finds that a few cosmetic changes can go a long way in increasing her numbers.

Go to the year 2032 Ana, smarter but no older, is about to undergo an experimental surgery called Aesthetica that will completely change her past. He vowed to restore his face to the way it had been if he had allowed himself to grow old. Her fillers are melted away, her cheekbones and jawline are removed, her rhinoplasties are reversed, and UV light hardens her skin. Like Instagram didn’t touch him.

This is the story of Aesthetica, Allie RowbottomA fiery and brilliant debut novel that delves into the terrifying and surreal world of influencer culture. Someone else brought it Rowbottom on Zoom to discuss the story, the women’s internet, and whether or not this is a scary story.

Barry Pierce: It’s great to read a book that focuses on topics like the rise of influencers and the power of Instagram. How did you research the book? Have you just spent hours scrolling through Instagram?

Allie Rowbottom: My research is a mixture of things. Like anyone, I’ve spent a lot of time getting into Instagram for no reason, and I think it’s affected the book. I also went to a lot of talks with plastic surgeons, just to see in the offices, to look good. One of the reasons I wanted to write the book is that I spend a lot of time on Instagram and [I was] looks, like, really weird about it.

BP: You set part of the story in 2017, which seems like a very special and meaningful year to choose. What is that number?

AR: At that time I was listening to a lot of Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein reports and I wanted to put the book together. [to be] just a little before #MeToo. I heard Jake [the abusive influencer who becomes Anna’s manager] There is so much bad news that I think if #MeToo had happened, Ana would have had more words and an opportunity to recognize her struggle. I also heard it while I was working Aesthetica The main thing is that in the beginning of 2020 Instagram has reached this strange place where it started to take its final form, so I decided to go back when it was really hard.

“Many readers want to share this story with others or make her a silent Instagram model” – Allie Rowbottom

BP: In 2017, Instagram is like the Wild West; there are no laws, no rules, ordinary people are becoming more popular than they should be, and in retrospect, a lot of bad things have happened. It’s like reality TV in the 2000s.

AR: Yes, that’s true. Is there still this idea of ​​what is real and what is made up? Many of those shows straddle the line between real and fake, and on Instagram, it’s a human body but it’s been altered like this.

BP: It’s in there Philip Snow‘s brilliant review of Aestheticashe said based on the fact that Anna subscribes to a very specific, online brand of feminism where she uses phrases like ’empowerment’ and sees the manipulation of her own body as something he does it for himself.

AR: Yes, someone told me a The onion articles from that time like, Everything a Woman does is Empowered. [Laughs]. The fact is, sometimes surgery can be difficult for some people but I was sure that this girl, who wanted approval and wanted to work, would do some mental sports to get things right surgery he didn’t think he needed. I really wanted to take Anna to that point where she’s playing with a fourth-wave feminist voice because Many readers, especially fiction readers, want to match this character to others or make her a silent Instagram model. as if she knew of different schools of feminism, a way of bringing people into this inner struggle and challenging their thinking.

BP: In a lot of press around the story, the term ‘horror story’ comes up. Do you want to write a horror story or have it been written on a book?

AR: The latter. I don’t really care, I like it, but I didn’t set out to write a horror story. When I write it I like it very much. I have a lot of regrets about aging, regrets about plastic surgery and things I chose to do, things I chose not to do, and regrets. I wrote this book on the heels of my mother’s death and a lot of things that didn’t make it into my first book [Rowbottom’s 2018 memoir Jell-O Girls] included in this book. It’s interesting to call this a horror story because most of it is about myself. But this is not a lie, it seems to be true.

BP: When I read online novels, I always start thinking about this guy who lives in the woods with no connection to the outside world, no phone, and then someone knocks on his door and gives him a copy it to him. Aesthetica and he said. And I wonder, what was his mind like when he read this book?

AR: Oh, I don’t know, because when we were selling this book a couple of editors passed by like, I’m not online for this book. And I don’t think you have to live like that on the internet to understand this book. Although the internet plays a big role in it, I don’t think of it as an internet myth, it’s a lot more emotional. And I hope that people in the forest can relate to many of the book, even if it is not online or on Instagram.

“I don’t think you have to be on the internet to understand this book, although the internet does a lot” – Allie Rowbottom

BP: I have a final question: In the 2032 episodes of the story, Instagram is called this dead platform, just like we think of Facebook now. What do you think will kill Instagram and what will happen soon?

AR: I see these days a lot of work is going down and people are talking about it so I think a long and slow death in that way. Also, I know now that if I’m looking for something, I can’t find it on Instagram. There is nothing paid from the app. And people may think that there is nothing out there that will make them feel good. There are also many tricks, and I am not strong enough. But if I die I can go and do other things I think. [Laughs].

Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom is published by Soho Press and is out now.