Face-opera

Drew and I were walking from the T today when the subject of his current status with the MIT Media Lab came up. We joked that he should set his Facebook relationship status to “It’s complicated” with the Lab. We talked a bit about the practical challenges for doing so, and decided that the best way to pull it off would probably be to create the [fake] Media Lab account himself and then play both accounts as a puppeteer.

Drew observed that it seemed strange that more people didn’t already do this sort of thing (some definitely do, but it still seems novel when it happens). We figured that the next big thing was probably for people to create fake accounts and stage elaborate fake relationships with them, complete with ceiling-to-floor photos and wall-to-wall (get it?) drama. Then things got out of hand.

We figure it would be totally awesome to stage a full-blown Face-opera. You’d need a bunch of willing actors to drive the accounts, appear in photos, and generally make noise. From there, you could use the natural flow of things on Facebook to tell a story. The characters could post on each other’s walls, add and remove friends, appear in pictures, move, and interact with the non-fictional world. Since Facebook preserves a record of all these things, it could be both the retrospective account of the story as well as the real-time narrative.

In a very real way, this would be like a new kind of theater. Things would take place on a much longer time-scale (weeks or months for a Face-opera as opposed to hours for a theatrical production), and the involvement of the audience could be very different. People in the audience would come in late, would miss details, might have a different set of “friends” in the cast, and would generally have different understandings of what was going on. Maybe some of the characters would have very public profiles. Maybe others would be more reserved and have more restricted profiles and fewer friends. Maybe some would refuse friend requests from members of the audience if they were already friends with a dramatic rival.

I really, really like this idea and think it has the potential to be pretty awesome. Now all we need is a ton of creative talent, an army of actors, and some way to grab the attention of millions of unwitting (or at least not-yet-witting) audience members. Let’s get rolling.

(For our readers: I’d really love to hear your thoughts on this. Also, Drew tells me that we need to come up with a better name that’s less evocative of a space opera.)

09:00 PM | 7 Comments

Comments

  1. I think it’s a great idea. I’ll volunteer to participate if you get enough momentum. I don’t even think you need a really fleshed out script, just people who are able to characterize their alternate personas well enough.

    As for names, Face-play doesn’t work too well either. I’m hard pressed to think of anything better at the moment.

    Dan on

  2. Also, I love the fact that because of your blog’s width restrictions, the link to the previous post looks like it reads:

    I did have to break up with one guy because he was very keen on Flagrant Jerknugget

    I can see how if your boyfriend were that into the above named band, it might be considered just cause to end a relationship

    Dan on

  3. That is, indeed, pretty awesome. I’ve promoted it to its own post so its awesome may be better shared with the Internet.

    Jon Chambers on

  4. P.S. I’m still in.

    P.P.S. I vote for ‘pantopera,’ as in the audience-inclusive British pantomine meeting the broad scope and huge casts of traditional operas.

    cagle on

  5. Mmmm, pantopera is wonderful. I assume it would be pan-top-era, instead of pant-opera? Either way, I think as long as you don’t make it sound like Pant Opera, it’ll work great.

    Drew Harry on

  6. Tee hee. I hadn’t even thought about Pant Opera. That could be spectacular, but only in its own special way.

    cagle on

  7. They’ve taken the idea and used it for advertising! http://whathappenedinpiedmont.com/

    cagle on