The basic idea of the flash mob is this: Take a public situation. Stooges either break into song or dance, start pillow-fighting, freeze, finger gun-fight or walk like zombies. The public look suitably bemused and yet inspired by the spontaneous act of self-expression before realising everyone but them is in on the act. Everyone goes back to normal and the public's day is just ever so slightly improved.
It all started for me at a wedding a couple of years ago. Half way through the wedding breakfast, the waiting staff all broke into song. It turned out they were trained opera singers.
In 2006 a flash mob walked like zombies in San Francisco.
Followed by air guitar flash mobbing, where's waldo flash mobbing, silent dance flash mobbing. Even then advertisers were picking up on the craze, with a Singaporean phone company doing a clucking chicken flash mob.
2007 saw flash mobbing get even more imaginative, with finger gun fight flash mobbing, ninja flash mobbing and flash mob pillow-fighting.
The flash mob dance in particular has grown from kooky wedding act to novel way to control prisoners, to advertising fodder. Thriller seems to be the all time favourite dance to flash mob to.
Last week T-Mobile took over Liverpool St station with a flash mob which involved more actors than there were public in the station. It seemed like a case of throwing money at the problem, rather than creating a new twist to flash mobbing. The element of surprise in flash mobbing is key but sadly missing here.
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