Monday, September 11, 2006

LonelyGirl15 = $$$

Who is the most popular person on YouTube these days? It is no longer Brookers or geriatric1927. boh3m3 and Renetto are bumped to the mid-section of the list. The most popular girl on YouTube is not Paris Hilton, LisaNova, FilthyWhore or LittleLoca.

The most popular girl on YouTube is....a very lonely girl - one who may not even be real...??


OK, as much time as I spend trolling around YouTube for tasty video goodies, you would think I would know all about the LonelyGirl15 phenomenon. In fact, I am totally clueless about this homeschooler named Bree who is more than likely some sort of marketing campaign dreamt up by forward thinkers at a Hollywood talent agency.

Thank goodness for wikipedia, the pop cultural mecca, who has the LG15 skinny (see link for complicated backstory). Apparently, LG15 has been watched, studied and picked apart by many astute folks who spend a great deal of time pondering her authenticity. For instance, her wisdom teeth prove she is older than 16, her clean bedroom suggests a set decorator and her her alternative music choices prove...

Speculation exists regarding the music choices through out the video series; namely, the use of smaller unsigned bands to score each film. The addition of Band Name, Song Title, and Band website added to each video description further points to the assertion that these films are a marketing vehicle, not for a movie, but rather for CAA's unsigned music acts.

The videos are simply a viral method to develop a fan base and following making acts more appealing to large label R&D executives. The eclectic nature of the music – strong variance in style, genre, and tempo, is in stark contrast to a girl who is homeschooled and otherwise insulated from the workings of pop music culture.


At the moment, all of the hottest videos on YouTube are either created by or surrounding Lonelygirl15. She is the talk of the town because she may be a fake. When Paris Hilton blindly pranced into the YouTube universe looking for gullible record buyers, all the YouTube celebs barked her out of town calling her a fake and a fame whore with no right to be there. YouTube, they shouted, was for the real people, the poor people, the lonely girls and boys, the people who are just like you and me, right?

But what of the Lonelygirl15 conglomerate and their patented viral brand? Do they have a right to be on YouTube selling whatever wares may come down the tube from HQ? And even stranger, will we buy these items? Will the ruse work? Why did everyone buy into her hook line and sinker? Are YouTube audiences so easy to fool? A mysterious, pretty lonely girl is all it takes?

Tanner says people like her cause she is cute. But it is more than that. It has to be!? Here is what her possible "creators", AKA Puppet Masters, have to say about why LG15 caught on so well:

On September 8th 2006, people claiming to be the creators of Lonelygirl15 claimed it was a fake, on Lonelygirl15.com saying (in part):

the biggest mystery of Lonelygirl15 is "who is she?" We think this is an oversimplification. Lonelygirl15 is a reflection of everyone. She is no more real or fictitious than the portions of our personalities that we choose to show (or hide) when we interact with the people around us.

This is exactly what they say about Paris Hilton. She is a blank page which we can write our own fantasies upon. Eww, creepy, can I have a blank page wearing more clothing please?? And now, let's enjoy Paris spinning around for no apparent reason - nice butt.

Here is good ol' Stevie Ryan to take the piss out of Paris with some authentic puking! Stevie is real - real in the sense that she has about 5 YouTube user names - but she damn well keeps it interesting, even if LittleLoca is a figment of her imagination, I find her more interesting than Bree. You can compare. Here is Stevie as Paris:



And here is ?? as LonelyGirl15:

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree that she is invented. I watched some video in which she got into a spat with her "friend" Daniel. It was way too well-produced to have been done by a 16 year old. It just...seemed odd. Plus she never addresses any people who leave comments, which seems kind of strange.

Anonymous said...

I haven't watched her yet, but this is like "the footage" in William Gibson's novel PATTERN RECOGNITION. People start finding pieces of enigmatic digital footage on the internet and become obsessed with them. It was a lot artsier than a teen's vlog, but people gave the same sort of meticulous attention to analyzing it, trying to figure out whether it was a marketing tactic or an art film, CG or live-action, fragments or a coherent story, etc. The heroine is hired by an ad agency to find the source of the footage so they can exploit this great viral marketing tactic (why they didn't just copy it is beyond me). Eventually she finds the creator using a serial number digitally embedded in the footage. I won't tell you who the creator is, but it's certainly more fanciful than the story of lonelygirl, if she is indeed a fiction.

If she is an actress, even obscure, wouldn't someone who's aware of the phenomenon recognize her? Could the "obscure language" she's learning be Latin (Catholic) or Hebrew (orthodox Jewish)? The theories about Satanism, Crowley, and an upcoming horror movie on Wikipedia are ingenious. But to get all those clues, you'd have to be an expert in Crowley, Lovecraft, etc., and that isn't the teen horror movie audience... is it? The whole scheme, if true, sounds like a labor of love for some horror nerd.

Eva the Deadbeat said...

yeah, the whole thing is pretty odd. it is more detailed than i will ever understand which makes it very interesting. now there is more bitching about another youtube celeb, renetto, because he is more media based than people say he admitted. there is lots of bitching on youtube and lots of calling people out as frauds.

it will be cool to see where youtube goes in the future. perhaps they will be advertising to us individually inside our heads...figuring out what we dream about and selling specifically to that ....eeek!

the le duo said...

I wanna be a youtube celebrity!! Eva, will you film me sittin in my chair* watching 'Seinfeld' re-runs? I think that would be a big hit.

*without pants....

Jb

Eva the Deadbeat said...

deal! you'll be a youtube celeb in no time and then, at the height of your fame, you can reveal that you are actually a brain surgeon masquerading as a pantless seinfeld fan. it'll be brilliant!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, she's the youngest member of the Nebraska City O.T.O. and she's learning the foul tongue of Abdul Alhazred in order to waken the Old Gods.

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm sure you've heard that it was all fake, just two film students and an actress. And they have a deal now!

It will be interesting to see how little that Internet phenomenon thing means, particularly since people are probably more angry than, "Wow, you guys are clever." But Internet hype, thus far, hasn't turned into dollars for things like Snakes on a Plane, so I somehow doubt this has much of a future as a movie.

Unless it's a movie about the phenomenon and hype, which will be awfully meta.

Eva the Deadbeat said...

man, this thing is SO mega meta already. youtube is full of angry people and i will be very interested to see what is next for the lonelygirl15 crew. gotta admire their pinache!

Anonymous said...

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-me-lonelygir13sep13,0,347594.story?coll=la-home-headlines

The creators speak out...

Anonymous said...

did someone call the old Gods?

N'ub sh'lra umb'dnara...