If you ever watched theStar Wars KidandHomestar Runner , or gawp at theTron Guyand web comicXkcd , you ’re transfer the future of celebrity . You ’re building a world where Paris Hilton and Tom Cruise will be replace by captioned pictures of cats and cagey comics about algebra . At least , that was the premiss of a league obligate over the weekend at MIT calledROFLCon , which brought together the World Wide Web ’s most famous meme - disseminators to rise that In The Future , Fame Will Be Different . Will it really ?
Wired bloggerJenna Worthamquotes opening keynote speaker unit David Weinberger , a fellow at Harvard ’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society , describing how web celebrity has transformed fame as a whole :
“ We made him , made them , noted , ” Weinberger said while testify photographs of the Star Wars Kid , Obama Girl , the habitation page of Turkish net furor Mahir and time of YouTube ’s omnipresent laughing baby . Weinberger went on to describe the current country of the fame plot , saying that the traditional model of Hollywood megacelebrity is “ based on alienation ” — a modelling , Weinberger read , that opens the threshold for us to reinterpret our whimsey of fame .
“ [ Hollywood celebrities ] cease to be famous when we see them as they are , ” a conception he demonstrate by indicate several chin-wagging magazine pictures of celebrities without their physical composition . “ Blogging , however , is all about take off the ‘ makeup . ’ They ’re disclose themselves as fallible human being . ”
The same holds rightful for the rest of the web celebs . “ What ’s celebrated on the internet looks like it was done by a human hand , ” said Weinberger , while indicate a Homestar Runner graphic . “ They still feel like ours . ”
“ It ’s not just the homespun tone of what ’s noted on the web . It ’s how fame works — it ’s becoming much more DIY , ” say Weinberger . “ Fame is now living in a long tail , or a longsighted continuum of ways to be famous . ”
But apparently fame has n’t change all that much , sinceas London Guardian blogger Anna Pickard pointed out , most of the web fame at ROFLCon just take place to be men . One of the presenter even remark on this , and how cyberspace celebritieshave a chance to challenge sexism . ( Still not certain how that would work . )
While it sounded like a seriously fun company at ROFLCon , pack with people whose on-line creations I ’ve been enjoying for twelvemonth , it ’s hard to take seriously the idea that WWW famous person are truly challenging the sartorial - renown industrial complex . Many of the “ celebrities ” in attendancedidn’t eff who the other celebrities were , and a draw of the attendees were fans of the obscure rather than the popular .
at long last ROFLCon was a gathering of hoi polloi who are subculturally celebrated , the way many weirdo creative person and creators have been for at least the past 200 years . I ’d love it if Tron Guy ’s fame really were challenging Tom Hanks ’ fame , make all of us into likely famous person . And make Tom Hanks into less of a big muckle , which he really should be . But if anything , ROFLCon proved that challenge is n’t happening . World Wide Web famous person , if you’re able to call them that , have hundreds of cool , devoted rooter . But they ’re going to need millions before I ’m convinced that , as Weinberger asserts , we ’re “ re-explain our notions of fame . ”
I pretend what I ’m saying is that millions of downloads are n’t the same as meg of fans . Until they are , Gem Sweaterlady will never crush Paris Hilton . I ’m not sure if that ’s a tragedy or a joke .
Tron Guy photograph byScott Beale .
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