Is it just me or have you noticed how Snapchat creators have progressively gotten edgy with the filters they are creating? Yes, edgy and for many reasons. People love these filters. They make your face contort, you can look like an animal, you can be your own ghoul, etc. But have you looked past how fun the filter is and seen how they can be the slightest bit offensive and culturally insensitive? If we look at all the different filters, you see how they contort your face in a way that is what some people think to be “ugly” with big noses, narrow cheekbones, rosy cheeks and huge eyes, etc. We also have filters that completely change people’s faces, either whitening them, removing “flaws” and/or putting them in black face (such as when they covered people’s faces with Bob Marley's for 4/20) and tribal face paint.

Let’s first talk about the contorting of facial feature and blemishes. I used to think it was funny how you could get these huge noses and tiny eyes because it did look funny. I didn’t stop to think, “Hey, this could be someone else’s reality” and continued to post these pictures on social media until one day, I showed my mom this certain filter. She looked at me and I remember her saying, “That’s not funny. Do you realize that some people actually look like this?” Truth be told, that was the first time I looked at these Snapchat filters with more of a critical lens. These filters enlarge/shrink, the features of people's faces that I used to believe created a comic effect. They also tend to wipe away people’s blemishes, making them look ethereal but completely unnatural. My friend, Rachel, once said that “This doesn’t even look like me” and I told her it’s because it wipes each person of the uniqueness of their imperfections which make them who they are. Besides whitening people's faces and changing them to look as though they aren’t of this earth, they continually make fun of other insecurities people have. They have a new filter that places people in thick frame glasses and braces while bloating the people’s faces who wear them. I found this one to be personally offensive because the glasses that I chose to wear just so happen to be big, black, thick frame glasses. I think that should be less stereotyping and Snapchat isn’t helping with that.

Now, let’s think about the cultural appropriation aspect of some of these filters. I’ve found there to be quite a few filters that have been rather insensitive to other people's cultures. There was a filter a couple months back that placed people in a bindi. In Indian culture, you don’t just have a bindi or wear one because you like it, there is a meaning behind it. There are actually many different meanings behind them: red for women symbolizes marriage, it could be a third eye (for those who are spiritual), and the list goes on. More recently, for 4/20, Snapchat gave people the option to be Bob Marley. I told many of my friends that I didn’t actually like the filter because it seemed like it was perpetuating black face. Some people got defensive and said that they were not racist and that the filter was just for fun since the artist was known for smoking weed often and making amazing music. I countered, clarifying that I wasn’t calling anyone racist but, the fact that they were placing a black person's face over theirs seemed not too far off from painting it black. There have been quite a few with pacific islander/native American appropriation. They cover people’s faces with paint, intricate patterns that probably mean something to someone and people degrade them calling some of them the “Coachella filter.”

I think that it is important for all of us to look past the amusement of these filters and think deeper about it. Are the small eyes and mouth really all that funny or is it racist? Are the thick frame glasses with braces funny or is it perpetuating stereotypes? I won’t say you all can’t have fun and use Snapchat and I’m not saying that I don’t use them at all anymore (I love the flower crown) but, I’d like for you all to try and bring awareness to one another. When is it funny and when does it cross the line?