With increasing open-mindedness in society and the development of media technology, selfies have played an important role in society and history and profoundly and extensively affected people's daily lives. This article follows the writing logic of positive and negative perspectives. From the perspective of ideographic symbols, combining dual viewpoints of painting history and visual culture, this paper explores the power transfer and cultural meaning behind selfies from the following aspects: the development of selfies, the identity performance on social media, the visual survival, cultural modes and commercial expressions of selfies. The paper contends that, selfies, as symbols of identity and power, allow people to have freedom of expression that was once controlled by specific powers, but in consumer society, they can pose a series of threats to society: selfies hijacked by commercial interests, selfies reduced to profit-seeking tools and abuses of individual power. These require the attention and vigilance of the society.