This original and interdisciplinary volume explores the contemporary
semiotic dimensions of the face from both scientific and sociocultural
perspectives, putting forward several traditions, aspects, and signs of the
human utopia of creating a hybrid face.
The book semiotically delves into the multifaceted realm of the digital
face, exploring its biological and social functions, the concept of masks,
the impact of COVID-19, AI systems, digital portraiture, symbolic
faces in films, viral communication, alien depictions, personhood in
video games, online intimacy, and digital memorials. The human face is
increasingly living a life that is not only that of the biological body but
also that of its digital avatar, spread through a myriad of new channels and
transformable through filters, post-productions, digital cosmetics, all the
way to the creation of deepfakes. The digital face expresses new and largely
unknown meanings, which this book explores and analyzes through an
interdisciplinary but systematic approach.
The volume will interest researchers, scholars, and advanced students
who are interested in digital humanities, communication studies, semiotics,
visual studies, visual anthropology, cultural studies, and, broadly speaking,
innovative approaches about the meaning of the face in present-day digital
societies.