Attack of the Superzeroes
from an article by Thomas de Zengotita appearing in the December 2004 issue of Harper's Magazine:
. . . This is the ultimate significance of all the technology: cable, satellite, the web, camcorders, video phones--all the usual suspects. They were the means to virtual revolution.
Coached by performer heroes, seeking the recognition to which they felt entitled, spectators pushed themselves forward as the technological venues opened up, and not only in what we call the "reality show." Other reality shows, under other names, sprang up everywhere. What they all had in common was the celebration of people refusing to be spectators--all the mini-celebrities, for example, who dominate chat rooms and game sites, and the blogs, the intimate "life journals." Think also of raves and flash mobbing, marathon running, karaoke bars, focus groups, talk-radio call-in shows, homemade porn, sponsored sports teams for tots--and every would-be band in the world can now burn a CD and produce cool cover art and posters.
Being famous isn't what it used to be.
Has it ever struck you, watching interviews with people in clips from the 1940s and 1950s, say, or even just looking at them in photographs, how stiff and unnatural they seem? Even prominent people, but especially regular folk, the way they lean into the mike and glance awkwardly around as they say whatever they have to say in semi-formal tones, almost as if reciting; and the way they raise their voices, as if they can't quite trust the technology to reach an absent audience. But nowadays? Every man on the street, every girl on the subway platform, interviewed about the snowstorm or the transit strike--they are total pros, laughing in the right places, looking directly at the interviewer or into the camera, fluid, colloquial, comments and mannerisms pitched just right for the occasion, completely at ease.
Method actors all.
The full article is available here, but only if you're a Harper's subscriber (which isn't a bad idea--it's consistently readable). If you're not a subscriber, the full essay is well worth digging up from your library. Or you can find a modified version in de Zengotita's book (one I intend to read soon), Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It.
Along the same lines as de Zengotita's piece, here are some interviews with a few of the architects and designers of Black Rock City, Nevada, a city that only exists for one week a year.
. . . This is the ultimate significance of all the technology: cable, satellite, the web, camcorders, video phones--all the usual suspects. They were the means to virtual revolution.
Coached by performer heroes, seeking the recognition to which they felt entitled, spectators pushed themselves forward as the technological venues opened up, and not only in what we call the "reality show." Other reality shows, under other names, sprang up everywhere. What they all had in common was the celebration of people refusing to be spectators--all the mini-celebrities, for example, who dominate chat rooms and game sites, and the blogs, the intimate "life journals." Think also of raves and flash mobbing, marathon running, karaoke bars, focus groups, talk-radio call-in shows, homemade porn, sponsored sports teams for tots--and every would-be band in the world can now burn a CD and produce cool cover art and posters.
Being famous isn't what it used to be.
Has it ever struck you, watching interviews with people in clips from the 1940s and 1950s, say, or even just looking at them in photographs, how stiff and unnatural they seem? Even prominent people, but especially regular folk, the way they lean into the mike and glance awkwardly around as they say whatever they have to say in semi-formal tones, almost as if reciting; and the way they raise their voices, as if they can't quite trust the technology to reach an absent audience. But nowadays? Every man on the street, every girl on the subway platform, interviewed about the snowstorm or the transit strike--they are total pros, laughing in the right places, looking directly at the interviewer or into the camera, fluid, colloquial, comments and mannerisms pitched just right for the occasion, completely at ease.
Method actors all.
The full article is available here, but only if you're a Harper's subscriber (which isn't a bad idea--it's consistently readable). If you're not a subscriber, the full essay is well worth digging up from your library. Or you can find a modified version in de Zengotita's book (one I intend to read soon), Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It.
Along the same lines as de Zengotita's piece, here are some interviews with a few of the architects and designers of Black Rock City, Nevada, a city that only exists for one week a year.
posted by Chazzbot at 9:32 AM
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