Influencers are all over our social media feeds, and in recent years they’ve started popping up in our movies and tv shows too. Just like their real-life counterparts, these on-screen influencers can give us some pretty unrealistic ideas about what it’s like to be a full time content creator; but sometimes they give us a deeper look into the darker side of influencing that social media stars often try to hide…
The fact that a lot of what we see on social media is fake isn’t exactly new information. We know how an influencer can stage a photoshoot, use filters, or flat out lie to project an idyllic life. But they’re not the only ones guilty of embellishment. Film and television have long perpetuated the notion that content creators simply live a privileged life and narcissistically feel compelled to flaunt it for views.
“Anyway we’re going to spend 10 days doing meditation, yoga, healthy eating and spending some quality time with my man.” Nine Perfect Strangers
But the reality isn’t so simple – those in the creator economy struggle with burnout, stress, and financial insecurity just like the rest of us, plus the dark and sometimes straight up scary side effects that can come from sharing your entire life online.
So, let’s look at what the media constantly gets wrong about these careers and their associated finances, the ways all creators are portrayed as uber-wealthy, and why they still get so much hate.
The Glamorous (Fictional) Lives of Content Creators
Despite the career’s increasing popularity and lucrativeness, influencers and creators are rarely if ever taken seriously; people believe that what they do isn’t actually work.
“Annika Attwater. Rich and #carefree, building a brand as a body-positive influencer, which seems to involve wearing a lot of free stuff on Instagram.” You
Even the job titles themselves imply a level of vacuousness: their only purpose being to influence people to buy things they don’t need, or to create some nebulous idea of “content” that claims to be about something – a lifestyle, a hobby, etc – but… is still generally just about getting people to buy stuff. Influencer in particular has taken on quite a negative connotation, mostly now lobbed at social media stars that are seen as lazy, entitled, and vain.
“My client’s complexion is her livelihood Mr. Spectre not only did this incident harm her brand it brought her emotional anguish.” “It was so bad I couldn’t post a video for a week.” Suits
To become an influencer means making yourself the brand – packaging and marketing an idea of you that will pull in the eyes and the big bucks. And so that can mean, just like a corporation, you have to hide or get rid of any part of your brand – you – that isn’t financially viable. It’s no surprise, then, that this framing then makes it seem like every influencer is always happy and rolling in the dough, even if that is far from the truth.
Fans and critics of influencer culture often assume that the entire job – if they’re even willing to call it that – is only about posing for selfies, traveling around the world, getting free stuff, and churning out daily wanderlust-y photos.
“It’s just for the pictures, she’s an influencer.” “You make money from that?” “It depends; you mostly get free stuff to be honest.” Triangle of Sadness
Hiding the work in the work is, in fact, part of the job. The main thing influencers are selling above all else is escapism, and so their content can’t get too bogged down in the banalities or hardships that might be going on behind the scenes. And movies and shows love to do this with their influencers as well – maybe occasionally giving them a hard time to make them feel a bit more relatable, but generally showing their jobs as easy and fun, usually something they’re just able to fit in around the rest of their lives. The assumed easy money of social media stardom also gives the writers the chance to kind of smooth over some more questionable aspects of characters lives, like web-star child Carly and her questioningly employed artist older brother Spencer being able to afford a giant, multi-level apartment in downtown Seattle.
Emily Cooper from Emily in Paris lives an unrealistically luxurious life as a young social media marketer working in France. She’s meant to look aspirational – happy, unbothered, inexplicably wealthy, fashionably dressed – while still being an “everygirl.” And, to be fair, Emily does have a real job to supplement her growing social media success. But she also has a lot of luck on her side. When Emily begins posting about her new life in the famous city, she quickly grows her modest Instagram following into the hundred thousands. And she seemingly wasn’t even trying…she’s just documenting this experience. Ask any influencer if building their viewership was this effortless and they’re bound to say no.
“You could be more successful as an influencer.” “Again, I’m…I’m not an influencer.” Emily in Paris
This portrayal of just tripping into accidental social media fame might be unrealistic (especially in today’s competitive market) but it is still the dream for many. But her story also gets at something that is often left out of the conversation around influencers and their success – the fact that many of them already had access to wealth before they got famous. Emily didn’t have to wait around for a brand trip to see Paris or a PR package to get her hands on the latest designer duds – she could apparently already afford it all on her own. And already being flush with cash is one thing that can make shooting to the top of the social media ranks a lot easier – you don’t have to toil away at a day job and try to post on the side, you can just buy the latest viral item and not worry if it’s going to break your bank account, and if a new vacation spot in trending you can be on a plane as soon as you hear about it.
“Those influencers at your lunch didn’t care about your brand. I respect what they do, but they’re driven by self-promotion and swag bags.” Emily in Paris
Influencers who don’t already have a lot of money can be left maxing out credit cards or throwing away their life savings just trying to keep up with the never-ending trend cycles. This can also lead these influencers to taking on sponsorships from brands they don’t really believe in, and that can be stripped away from them at any time, leaving them scrambling.
“Olympus Nutrition, they’re worried about their product being viewed in that kind of context.” Sweat
Flitting around Paris getting hundreds of likes on your basic ‘yum a croissant’ post that you made on a whim might be the dream, but struggling to keep your life together while planning, strategizing and budgeting everything possible in the hopes of maybe getting the algorithm to show you to even the people who already chose to follow you so that maybe you can make a few dollars from a promo link is the reality for many influencers.
Social Media Satire
As interest in social media and content creation has blossomed in recent years, the subjects have of course also come under scrutiny by film and television. The Boys spinoff Gen V centers on a superhero university that values the amount of brand deals and followers a student has above all else, honing in on the dark side of the competitive aspect that comes with being an influencer.
“I mean, you’re competing with kids who have cleared homicide cases, who have over a million followers. And you don’t even have an Insta.” Gen V
Glass Onion featured a Twitch streamer/men’s rights “activist” peddling questionable products, along with his girlfriend who reveals she’s very aware of the problematic content he’s making. The film satirizes the way that many influencers do feel that they have to give up any integrity or personal morals and instead focus on whatever is most lucrative in that moment, no matter what that might be. You’s influencer Sherry Conrad is also willing to completely bend her life – and the lives of her children – around what will sell best to her audience.
“Her blog/podcast/brand Heart-Shaped Mistakes – kill me – is a mecca of humblebragging and superiority fronting as hard-earned wisdom.” You
Other depictions seek to focus more on how social media obsessions can deeply, terrifying affect regular people. Gia Coppola’s Mainstream explores how an average person can get totally swept up in internet fame and completely lose themselves to their online persona. And in Eighth Grade, we see how all of the pressures of social media – and the desire to become someone else through the power of the internet – can affect even the youngest minds. Kayla does what many young people today do: attempting to replicate the content of her favorite influencers in the hopes of getting what they have, or rather seem to have – the confidence, the power, the friends. But trying to build up this persona online doesn’t help Kayla overcome her problems, she has to do that in real life.
In Ingrid Goes West, we see the effect influencers can have on others – how getting pulled into these perfect, made up worlds can cause us to lose our grip on reality. Taylor Sloane is the epitome of the cool, chill California influencer, sharing bits and pieces of her curated life with her followers. Ingrid, a lonely young woman with a history of obsessive behavior, becomes latched onto Taylor’s vision of an idyllic, serene (and popular) life, and begins to mold her own life to try to match it. To her shock, Ingrid finds that not all of Taylor’s life is as it appears on her feed.
“Ezra told me everything, okay. He told me that when you moved here you were lame and basic and you had no friends. You were just like me.” Ingrid Goes West
The film explores how some people will give up everything – safety, savings, sanity – in the quest for online stardom; and, darkly, the way that sometimes that level of depravity is what can lead to success.
“I know there’s something wrong with me, but I don’t know how to fix it.” Ingrid Goes West
The Reality of Surviving in the Creator Economy
Contrary to our cultural perception of content creators and influencers, they don’t all lead a privileged life. Not everyone spends their time jet-setting around the world to promote beauty and wellness products, or attend exclusive lavish events.
“A podcast takes a lot of work, okay? You have to organize the guests, you have to do a google calendar and then you build a following. It takes a long time and I’ve been working on it for a while!” Bodies Bodies Bodies
They’re hard at work managing multiple social media accounts – no longer enough to do well on one platform, nowadays you need to be making your mark across multiple platforms to see real success. And it’s not just about showing off possessions and style. They also often create and sell courses, workshops, handmade products, educational videos – not to mention, many of them have other jobs.
“So, you manage all this? Businesses, TikTok, an acting career?” “You know how it is. Being our age in New York. You have to hustle if you want to make it here.” Only Murders in the Building
If you’re a one-person business, you have to wear all the hats. They not only write and star in their content, they also have to know graphic design, editing, lighting, promotion, SEO, website building, networking, etc.
“You’re also a principal.” “Yeah, but this is my art. I write, I edit, I direct, I do the music, I lip-sync. Because of me, when people say that their favorite director is that Ava lady, somebody else gotta be like, “Which one?” Abbott Elementary
They need to regularly learn new skills just to adapt to a saturated market that’s always changing. For those just starting out, they usually have to agree to unpaid work in hopes of securing a good working relationship with a brand or company that could then maybe lead to future paid work.
Of course, there is an allure to being your own boss, setting your own hours, and working from home. It’s that idea of freedom that draws people to a career in social media. But in actuality, it usually doesn’t mean less responsibility and more free time. Being self-employed is always tricky in terms of job security and earning a consistent income. Many influencers make their money from brand deals and sponsorships, but with regulations still not having caught up to the realities of the industry, it’s easier for companies to take advantage of them, including lack of transparency when it comes to pay. With all of these stressful factors, creators regularly put in long hours just to keep up. All while often dealing with online harassment. The pressure to stay visible can be all-consuming, taking away any semblance of work/life balance – losing engagement often means platform algorithms won’t give you the same exposure as others who are able to post more frequently or pull in more views, regardless of the quality of your or their content. So it’s no surprise that this all comes together to create the perfect recipe for burnout.
“I’d like to delete my Instagram account because nobody would really miss me. I know it.” Sweat
Of course, it’s hard for most people to have too much sympathy even for influencers who are struggling, because ‘being overworked and burned out’ is something that most of us are experiencing, and we don’t get free clothes or vacations as part of the deal. And so this is why on screen influencers are often the butt of jokes, giving the audience the chance to laugh at these characters for being so worn out by doing something so seemingly frivolous. But given that content creation is one of the most desired jobs right now, especially amongst young people, it is important that movies and tv work to better engage with the full reality of being a social media star, good and actually bad.
Conclusion
Becoming a full time content creator, influencer, podcaster, or social media “celebrity” requires more hard work than people realize. But those interested in these avenues of self-employment shouldn’t be completely dissuaded. Being a creator as a side hustle or even being a micro influencer is attainable. These days people want authenticity, meaning it’s not necessary to put a ton of money into presenting an unrealistic lifestyle. And there are also plenty of people that have found ways to use online influence for good, like doctors, lawyers, and teachers who aim to use their platforms to educate people and spread knowledge. For better or worse, social media is a part of our lives now. So instead of letting ourselves get swept away by dreamy depictions – on the big or small or smaller screens – we should focus on how we can use this historic level of interconnectedness to make the world a better place.