Instagram Comics: The Survival Guide for Millennials

INSTAGRAM COMICS: THE SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR MILLENNIALS

lisa santos

 Instagram is an ever-changing and developing platform. With new content being added constantly, it grows ecologically, developing new subcultures catering to the interests of the users. A subculture that has grown exponentially in the last 3 years is the comic strip artist community. This community has grown and gained social momentum, which is affecting the people consuming this content. The platform as well as the content are factors which play into its socio-cultural influence. But what is crucial to note is that the influence of comics on Instagram is shaping how viewers perceive and interact with the world.

Comics and real life have an interesting relationship. Just as the saying goes “art imitates life, and life imitates art”, so does real life and life as depicted in comics. The two feed off each other as they grow and develop, creating a new

culture which shifts as these comics become more influential.

The comics that are posted are unlike newspaper comics, which usually have a political or religious figure at the centre of attention. Instagram comics revolve around the mundane, daily life, experiences that most can relate to, seen in a new light or with a comedic twist. In the early stages of the community, when it was not as popular, the comics consisted of a 3-4 panel comic, posted as a single image on the platform. This changed In February of 2017 when instagram added a new feature allowing users to post more than one image per post as well as videos. This boosted the expansion of this subculture, changing the way comics were done. Posts went from one image with four panels, to a panel per image, with anywhere from 2 to 10 images per post. 

Because of this multiple image feature, comic artists were able to tell longer stories in their comics. Additionally, they didn’t have to deliver the punch line immediately in the first panel, making the viewer swipe to see what happened in the following panel. There was now a new avenue for creativity within this community. The boundaries expanded allowing comics to take different shapes and gave the artists more creative freedom. Certain comics such as Awkward Yeti and Poorly Drawn Lines still use the multiple panel comics, while others such as Pet Foolery and Sarah Graley are multiple image posts, a panel per image. This varies by artist.

Though Instagram’s feature allowed growth and exposure for this community, the main reason it became popular was because the content of the comics resonated with the viewers. These comics are relatable by nature. When reading, the audience needs to have the “me too!” feeling, the feeling of belonging and commonality. Comics on instagram, specifically the most popular ones, deal with themes such as daily life, common struggles and issues most people are familiar with. This guarantees that the audience will feel connected to the characters in the comics and continue consuming the content and supporting the artist. This art form developed and grew so much many of these popular comic strip artists have comic books and have been invited to conventions such as ComicCon.

Artists

Relatability ties all these successful and popular comics together, but style and voice vary a lot from artist to artist. Some of the art is very simple and straightforward, such as Poorly Drawn Lines. Others like Jude Devir have intricately drawn images, with a lot of details. What brings the artists together and makes this such a powerful group of people is that they are all going through the same stage of life. The vast majority of these comic artists are about 20 to 30 years old, and have similar struggles such as beginning one’s careers, getting out of college, getting married, starting a family, finding a tight friend group, etc… These struggles, different in their individuality as they are, are very similar, and are portrayed in a manner that viewers can relate to. Another reason this specific demographic is behind the creation of these comics is that it was the one that was first introduced to the app when it was launched in 2010. This group of people grew up with the app and have been on it for years. It’s become a habit.

Audience

For the purposes of this paper, the audience being referred referring to is the specific group of people who consume these comics between the ages of 18-27 years old.  This age group is a little younger than that of the artists producing the content, but there is a major overlap. This overlapping demographic happens because the viewers, being in similar stressful and uncertain life stages, go to this content for affirmation, comfort, and validation. 

Instagram: The Ideal Platform

The influence of these comics begins with Instagram. Since the people in this demographic are some of the most present on Instagram, they are the ones most exposed to the content on it. The audience was exposed to this platform in their teenage years, and has grown up as the app has developed and changed. They have, therefore, seen all the changes Instagram has gone through, all the trends and popular content as it came and went. The comics culture is one that has recently developed and been adopted by this audience because of the content’s relatability to the audience’s stage of life.

One of the main ways that the platform itself influences the viewers is showing them how many people liked a post, or commented on it. By seeing thousands of likes and positive comments on a post the viewer comes to the subconscious conclusion that if everyone else approves and supports this, it must be good or true. The content may vary, a comic might be supporting a specific worldview such as LGBTQ+  lifestyle or a political inclination, or other similar concepts. But this is not always the case. Many times, the amount of likes and comments a post has are simply because the viewers related to the content, and had a “me too!” moment. Comics’ comment sections are filled with “me!” or “this is my spirit animal” and similar phrases. When the viewer resonates with a comic and sees other people saying “that’s so me!” it affirms that the viewer isn’t alone in his or her thinking. This gives a sense of comfort and unity. It is known that when people feel understood they feel better about their opinions and are more prone to be vocal about them. In this case, the affirmation is happening digitally, through the platform instead of in person.

The amount of likes or comments a post has, or even the number of followers an account has, communicates to the audience how much people like the content being posted. When posts have thousands of likes the user is lead to think that what is being said has some weight and takes it seriously. The issue with this is that not everything that a lot of people support is correct or necessarily good. Here lies the danger of the influence of comics.

Another way Instagram increases these comics’ influence is the Explore section. This section consists of posts that Instagram believes you would like, according to the people you follow, post you’ve liked and commented on, according to it’s algorithm. All sorts of different content is collected for each individual user, exposing them to content they otherwise would not have come across.   

The reason comics are as powerful as they are is because a whole community was built around this ideal. All consumers of these comics go back to them time and again because for their need for validation and commonailty with another person.

The comics community has grown exponentially in the last few years; to be able to assess its influence, the community has to be separated into subgroups. The first being discussed is the very popular romantic daily life comics. In this group one of the most influential artists is Catana. These comics consist of the daily life of a girlfriend and boyfriend, highlighting sweet moments between them. Catana’s first comic was posted on Instagram in December of 2016, which currently has over 26k likes. She currently has over 2.7 million followers. This number doesn’t truly reflect the amount of people who consume and view her work. As mentioned earlier, because of the Explore feature, many more people are influenced by comics than necessarily follow these specific accounts.

The influence of the Catana’s comics is in its content. These comics are about the daily life of a couple, doing sweet things together and sharing endearing moments. The issue with Catana comics is that is sets an unrealistic expectation of how romantic relationships work by not showing the real, and at times unflattering, side of romantic relationships. When the good side of relationships is all that is seen it develops a mentality of comparison. This causes viewers assume that what is depicted is supposed to be normative and they begin to

wish these things for themselves, not knowing they aren’t realistic. Viewers then begin comparing their lives to what they see in comics, developing unhealthy expectations in an unrealistic fantasy. Ideally, daily life comics about romantic relationships should be more truthful, not a Hallmark adaptation of life. There is, of course, a time and place for content like this, but when this unrealistic content is overabundant it communicates and infers that that is how reality should be, and if that is not your reality, your life isn’t complete.

Jude Devir, another artist in this category, does this in a more appropriate, healthily, and realistic way. In his illustrations he depicts small moments of daily life with his wife and baby daughter. There are beautiful and cute moments in his illustrations, but he doesn’t shy away from drawing hard moments and being real about what married life really is like. Unlike comics like Catana, who only show good and sweet moments, Devir embraces pain and difficulty with the ability to see beauty in them, instead of avoiding them altogether. Authenticity and realism are crucial for wholesome and well-rounded comics.

Another category of comics is daily life. This group focuses mostly on struggles most people are familiar with, but with a humorous or hyperbolic twist or different perspective. The strength of this particular group is its rootedness it relatability. It doesn’t matter if it is a critique or praise of an action, as long as

the audience reads the comic and thinks “that’s so me!”, it is an effective comic. Some examples of the artist in this category are Adam Tots and Strange Planet.

Adam Tots has 1.4 M followers, with and average of 200k likes per comic. He has published a comic book and has attended several conventions such as Comic Con in the last few years. His posts receive a lot of comments, about 1,700 per post, most either commenting on a concept or specific part of the drawing, but mostly the comments say things like “literally me”, “mood”, “so true”, or “me every day”.

Strange Planet has about 4.8 million followers, with an average of 250k likes per post. This artist behind it, Nathan Pyle, re-tells human life from the perspective of “beings” , using complex and unusual words to explain common and yet peculiar human behaviours which, if though about for a while, are in fact quite strange. This specific artist doesn’t quite seem to approve or disapprove of behaviours, but puts them in a different light, critiquing them, with of course, a funny twist, making the audience question why it is that they do these things. This video, in which Nathan interacts with some comments of on his work, exemplifies some of the ways that people have reacted and changed behaviour because of this comic.

Comics such as Strange Planet are important because they aren’t just something more to consume that is cute or entertaining. It is unique in is content and critique. Because of its use of more complicated language than the colloquial english it immediately makes the reader slow down and forces them to think a little harder, instead of simply reading something easily and moving on. Additionally, it critiques odd human behaviours that society never really questions or thinks much about because they are so common place.

There is another sub-group of comics that revolves solely around the lives of animals, but in a anthropomorphic way. Some of the most popular accounts are Pet Foolery and False Knees. These comics are usually several panels long and tells stories of lovable animals such as Pixie and Brutus. False Knees makes comics about the life of birds, sometimes humanising them more than others, but still giving them human characteristics, enough that the audience can relate and feel alongside them.

The influence these comics have is defending certain ideals or actions, making them normative and common. For example, in this comic a wife and husband are having coffee and he spills his coffee on his white shirt, she reminds him that it’s always this exact shirt, he immediately concludes that that shirt is cursed. This shows the hyperbolic language that is used in comics, which is being adopted by the audience that consumes it. Anyone who interacts with people from the audience’s demographic is quickly made aware of the common usage of hyperbolic speech. It is an intrinsic part of comics from the beginning of its history on Instagram, and those who consume it internalise it, and eventually it is externalised in speech and action.

This is particularly concerning when comics defend or encourage certain behaviour or beliefs that aren’t necessarily healthy or constructive.

The effects of these various comics are united in the fact that they critique, condone, or disapprove of certain beliefs or actions. They set the bar of what is right, and how life should be lived. This is probably unintentional. These artists aren’t creating comics with the intention of making their audience think like them. But on a platform saturated with comics that do not reflect reality, with an audience who is searching for truth and community. The consequence is a whole demographic of young adults, who are still developing their understanding of the world, taking comics as gospel truth.

Community (or Lack Thereof)

Built on the ideal of commonality and relatability, this comic community is intrinsically dysfunctional; it is completely digital, not encouraging or requiring any actual human contact beyond the vague, and yet powerful, sense that “someone else feels the same way I do”. This feeling is powerful because it is comforting, making one not feel so alone, and though it is what many people seek it is not what we need. But more than often the the audience views a comic, likes it, maybe comments, and then tags someone on the post. There is no real actual conversation, there is no actual human connection that is needed to deepen real relationships. Human connection is important because incarnality is important.

We are beings who have physical bodies, not just intellectual. By focusing on the intellectual part of a person, not valuing the physical, as this specific demographic tends to do, we are missing out on a whole spectrum of human connection. Being created in the image of God, we were purposefully created for relationships, and our bodies play a part in this as well as our intellect. Bodies aren’t simply tools that move our brains from one room to another, but an important aspect of the human existence.

Jesus Christ himself became flesh to be able to dwell with humanity. God Himself took on a body and descended into the filth of humanity to be able to bring it restoration. There is a reason Jesus doesn’t simply forgive people’s sins and move on, He sat, ate with them, fed them, and healed their bodies. If the physical body wasn’t important Jesus would have just told everyone He encountered “your sins are forgiven”, but instead He healed their bodies.

“Liturgy” and “Scripture”

Instagram as a platform, with all its features, encourages the user to spend exponentially more and more time on the app. The explore tab, for example, is ever changing. Every time it is refreshed it shows endless posts chosen according to the user’s likes. This creates a whole world of entertainment pulling the user in. Spending more time on the app the user begins being influenced by its content as explained earlier. Not only this, but by spending more time on the platform it becomes a routine, a liturgy. According to this article, people are spending about 53 minutes on Instagram a day. This a lot of time to be sitting under a fountain of unfiltered content, mindlessly scrolling.

When it comes to comics, specifically, viewers once exposed to a certain artist they like they keep coming back for more. They return making sure that they see every next comic that comes out. This can be seen commonly in the comments of these post. The audience feeds of this comfort of coming back to a page daily to find new content they resonate with. It becomes a liturgy, a daily practice, something that they never fail to do, and doing it brings comfort.

Secondly, but Instagram comics have, in a manner, become the Scriptures of the audience. Not only does the audience come back to these comics for comfort and familiarity, but also for guidance. Because of the amount of likes, comments, or

followers a certain artist has, their opinion and their words have weight and influence. The audience turns to comics with the mentality of “if this many people like it and condone it, it must be somewhat true”. The audience is in the stage of life of uncertainty and needing answers, and so they turn to these comics thinking that the content of a post, being backed up by so many people who think like them, is trustworthy. They are looking for answers and guidance anywhere they turn, and these comics seems reliable, and so they quickly take them in, internalising them, and making them part of who they are.

The audience’s need for comfort leads them to a familiar platform and an entertaining art form. The platform encourages them to spend more time on it and the content being viewed begins being taken in by the audience. The audience, seeing that this content is relatable and comfortable returns to it. But this return is done not only in search for answers, but out of habit.

Response

The Christian community, out of all, should be the most aware of what it consumes. It is well known that one becomes what one surrounds oneself with. Proverbs 13:20 says “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” Friends are the people we spend most time with and who influence us the most. In the same way, one should surround oneself with truth because that will determine who one becomes. Consuming mindlessly comics which have no actual depth and spending endless time on a platform that only mimics community but truly isn’t, and is detrimental to real human relationships.

False expectations make real relationships seem plain and unexciting. It is easier to have a shallow “relationship” or sense of community digitally than have to actually walk alongside real people who will inevitably hurt one another and always need help and attention.

In this oversaturated world of content we need to be selective of what we consume and thorough in our examination of it. There is a limit to how much one should take in, independent of how entertaining the content is. In viewing these comics, consumers should assess the value of what is being said, constantly testing it for truth and abandoning what isn’t. There is a plethora of comics being posted every day, we cannot consume all of them, and so we must chose carefully what we want in our intellectual and and moral diet. By choosing what you consume you determine what influences you. Especially as Christians we should be dwelling on things that are constructive, not only for our own sakes and well-being, but for everyone else’s also. The content we consume will eventually be externalised and affect the people around us. Out of care for our own selves and love for those around us we should be careful of what we consume, knowing our own limits, and be constantly re-assessing the world around us.

We must constantly reevaluate the content, in this case comics, we consume, knowing that the influence of comics on Instagram is shaping how we perceive and interact with the world. We have the ability of chose what influences us, what we decide to bring into our lives. On a platform that is so influential, we need to as viewers, weigh the content on comics against what we know to be true, and not take it a face value. We must acknowledge the power this medium has and meet it face front with Truth we know from the Bible, analysing it carefully, holding close what stands with it and discarding what does not.