Over the past few weeks, the world has discovered, laughed with and felt socially shamed by the Instagram account of a brunette, bespectacled Barbie doll.
“Socality Barbie” has 1.2 million followers and she poses in ways that are familiar to just about everyone who’s ever tried to be #authentic about their #nofilter #backtonature existence.
In popular media, she’s been nicknamed Hipster Barbie.
But Socality Barbie is not a garden variety hipster. She is parodying something far more specific and much more niche, than your standard, latte-sipping, pendleton-blanket-owning, inner city cool hunter.
Socality Barbie is a good Christian dolly. She’s parodying a movement created to “connect and create influencers for the message of the Gospel.”
Search #Socality and you’ll find more than one million images in a very similar vein to Socality Barbie’s. There are photos of girls with flowers in their hair, of beautiful vistas and epic skate tricks. The aesthetic is recognisable - it’s a blend of aspiration and #inspiration that’s common to most fashion and lifestyle bloggers on the social network.
But there’s something missing. There are no chinking champagne glasses, rainbow flags, or girls in bikinis (aside from the pornographic accounts “hashtag bombing” to get more views). This is a morally pure vision of being one’s best self. All the fun photographed is good, clean and pure.
Hipster churches are located in cool suburbs. Their sermons are lit like rock concerts.
“We have not given consent for our name to be used” a Socality statement read. “We believe it’s important to be able to laugh at ourselves every once and a while but, at the same time we don’t want to diminish the impact that we can collectively achieve. At the end of the day, the people connecting through Socality are gathering and connecting for purpose.”
Socality isn’t the first time that Christians have embraced hipster aesthetics as a means to spread the word of the Lord. Brett McCracken, author of Hipster Christianity, has been suggesting that yuppie tastes can be used to spruik the Bible since 2010.
In a 2013 interview with NPR, he explained that hipster churches have music that sounds more like the Arcade Fire than traditional hymns, that disciples are young, well dressed, and often work in creative industries. Hipster churches are located in cool suburbs. Their sermons are lit like rock concerts.
If that sounds remarkably like Hillsong to you, then well done. You’re right. Australia’s home-grown megachurch is the pioneer of this modern take on Pentecostal faith. Socality’s founder Scott Bakkan spent five years in Australia, studying with Hillsong, before moving back to Calgary, Canada in 2010.
A penchant for clean lines, Juno filters and matte paper stock does not necessitate support for same sex marriage, nor the reproductive rights of women.
He launched the Socality movement in 2014. Until the wildly popular parody account muddied Socality’s waters, it was having significant success as tool for conversion. On the Socality website, Bakkan says “We have received letters and emails from many individuals asking if they can be involved in this community even if they don’t believe in Jesus or go to church. And the answer is YES!!!! If the answer wasn’t, then all we are creating is another social club.”
He goes on to say: “At the core, we believe in Jesus and the gospel… We want to get back to the basics and focus on the central theme of Jesus, which is about loving God and loving His people. When Jesus met the fisherman Simon Peter, He didn’t ask him what he believed, but rather invited him to follow… When asked if Socality is Christian, we unashamedly and boldly respond, "yes!" We are not watering down the message of Christ, but rather the opposite. We are committed to bringing the heartbeat of God to humanity.”
The term “hipster” comes with a set of assumptions, which often include progressive political beliefs. But that’s not always the case. A penchant for clean lines, Juno filters and matte paper stock does not necessitate support for same sex marriage, nor the reproductive rights of women.
We all use social media to construct our self-image. When the image someone is trying to construct is that the Lord made them in his, it’s always worth noting. That photo of a path winding through mountains, leading to a lake might mean “Oh… pretty” to many Instagrammers, but it could just as easily be a request to go down to the river to pray.
Writer Alyx Gorman has worked as editor of The Glow and features editor with Elle.
