People Are Freaking Over Kendall & Gigi as "Pets"

Halloween is quickly approaching, and in a fittingly spooky turn of events, Kendall and Gigi's humanoid shoot for W Magazine is scaring the whole Internet. To celebrate the magazine's 10th anniversary Art Issue, the publication enlisted artists Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin to explore how "cameras, social media, and reality TV have changed the way we engage with the world and with one another."

An editorial that looks like the darkest timeline of Snapchat filters ensued, painting the social media-megastar models as "super friendly, domesticated humanoid pets." Apparently, the idea came from Fitch and Trecartin wondering who would survive if a "superior alien humanoid species came to Earth," and concluding, "The friendliest."

Photoshopped into Shrek-meets-Bosch "placebo pets," the artists explained the human-pet relationship as a comparison for our connection to technology, "in the way that we’ve been trained to adapt our behavior, our language, and the images we choose to present our changing selves."

According to Trecartin, “It’s really them domesticating us almost more than us domesticating them, because they’re training us to want them. Training and taming something is not one-sided.” The artists' message does make sense — as the hype over every Kylie Cosmetics launch indicates, social media stars do effectively turn the tables and use exposure to their benefit.

But back to the humanoid photos, they're pretty weird and also incredible. I respect Jenner and Hadid for being game, because it is truly different from what you see in most magazine editorials.

Over on Twitter, people are mystified.

I can only think they haven't read how social media relates to the human-pet dynamic.

Or maybe they did.

The floating volleyball is disconcerting.

But not quite as unsettling as the models' lack of knees.

Social commentary? Photoshop oversight? We may never know.

Images: Courtesy Portfolio by Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin, Photographs by Jason Kibbler, Giphy