issue 30 // volume 42

New media, new medium

> E-celebrities the next generation of artists?

Adam Tatelman
Arts Editor

 

[I would be difficult to find
any western millennial

with an Internet connection
who hasn’t at least heard of
YouTube personalities like Felix
“PewDiePie” Kjellberg, Mark
“Markiplier” Fischbach, or Ian
Hecox and Anthony Padilla

of Smosh fame. The swearing
Swede, the red-haired raconteur,
and the suburban sketch
comedians all have one thing

in common: these seemingly
pedestrian figures have captured
the hearts of millions ina
culture suffused with limitless
disposable entertainment,
forever changing the face of

the Internet in the process.

At first glance, their methods
are identical to that of an improv
comedy show. It begins with
the creation of an idiosyncratic
personality, and the mining of
comedic potential which arises
from putting that personality in
bizarre situations. Advertisement
and self-promotion of that
personality creates a viewer base,
and the viewers’ loyalty provides
ad revenue to the creators of
the show and their distribution
partners. That is where the
new media’s similarities to film

and television end, however.
Community is the
watchword when it comes to new
media presentation. Without
any multi-billion dollar film
production companies in their
corner, Internet personalities
must rely on word-of-mouth
advertising and self-promotion to
push their shows, These methods
have more power now than
ever before in history because
of the Internet’s worldwide
accessibility. Anyone with
presentational skill can likely
accrue viewers provided they is
able to fill some kind of niche
with their content. This creates
audiences who feel connected
to the material, and thus are
loyal. The trick is to then parlay
niche appeal into mass appeal.
This is why the most
successful e-personalities focus
on the latest pop-culture trends,
recording content in bulk and
publishing bite-size chunks day
by day. In a media-saturated
culture like our own, so much
disposable entertainment comes
down the pipe that no one can
possibly afford to keep up with
it all without making a full
time job of it. The brilliance
of the e-personality is to do
just that, offering a vicarious
experience of all the latest

The Joke's on you

> Jared Leto’s method acting techniques cause controversy

Rebecca Peterson
Staff Writer

 

We the summer release

of DC’s Suicide Squad
approaching, actor Jared Leto

has been making headlines with
his unconventional methods of
getting into character as the Joker.
Some of these methods include
harassing fellow actors by sending
them disturbing gifts such as
used condoms and dead rats.

Cast mate Viola Davis revealed

in an interview that she'd been
tempted to pepper spray Leto in
the face for his antics.

Much of this has been praised,
or critiqued, as extreme method
acting. Leto, after all, has some
enormous shoes to fill as the
Joker, given that the last actor
to portray him won an Oscar
posthumously for his work.
However, it begs the question;
how much of this is done to get
into character, and how much of
it is simply a publicity stunt?

Actors have been doing odd
things to get into character
since before the dawn of
cinema. Marlon Brando was
one of the first actors to bring

these techniques to film. Many
actors these days have their own
versions of the widely-used and
vaguely defined method. Daniel
Day-Lewis, for example, once
spent a shoot operating on the
same limitations of his character
who suffered cerebral palsy, so
the rest of the crew had to wait on
him hand and foot.

Heath Ledger also spent
much of his time preparing
for his role as the Joker doing
intense method exercises. He
apparently locked himself away in
a London hotel room and delved
deep into his psyche through
writing and art to try to find the
character that would win him an
Oscar. Many feel that may have
contributed to his death through
lack of sleep and a slow mental
decline.

However, Ledger apparently
never brought this personality to
set outside his scenes. Between
takes he was friendly with cast
and crew alike, and certainly
never sent Christian Bale a
box of bullets. These breaks
from character did not in any
way impact his performance
negatively, and likely helped him
deal with the weight of his role.

popular films and games in
easily digestible comedic chunks
that fit the pace of urban life.
This early adoption poises
each monetized YouTube
channel as its own small
production company, requiring
e-personalities to take on the
roles of advertiser, producer,
editor, director, cameraman, and
actor. This balancing act could
never be accomplished without
the internet’s democratization

Much of the criticism
surrounding Leto’s methods
are based in concern for his cast
members, and no small amount
of feeling that he might be “trying
too hard” for a film that has a PG-
13 rating. Leto has boasted about
his dedication to the role to many
outlets, claiming that people will
want to “lock him away” once
they see his performance.

Method acting has long been
about how an individual actor
delves into their deepest selves to
discover something intense and
excited to bring to the screen.
Given that every actor has their
own techniques for finding their
character, inflicting one’s method
upon a cast mate could prove
destructive to their performance.
Some actors, after all, prefer to
leave their characters on set and
go home to a preferably dead
animal-free house.

Whether Leto’s methods are
justified or a cry for attention
will likely be decided once
the movie is released August
3, when audiences can see his
performance and judge for
themselves.

 

of media. Now that anyone
can publish anything at any
time with very little regulation,
users of new media are free

to adopt filmic advertisement
techniques with entirely new
methods of distribution.

That is the secret behind the
rise of the e-personality; although
everything they generate is
entirely disposable, the sense of
community they create ensures
their viewers will always come

 

arts // no. 7

Image of PewDiePie via www.theverge.com

back for more. So, perhaps “new
media” is a misnomer. After all,
video has been around for over
acentury. Perhaps instead we
should refer to this phenomenon
as a “new medium,” one which
transcends the limitations of film
and television and embraces a
new method of presentation.
Hell if I know what
to call it, though.

Image via www. rollingstone.com