Could it be that YouTube, and all it stands for, is what Andy Warhol had in mind when he promised us all 15 minutes of future fame? Without a doubt, internet video holds out a tantalizing potential for stardom; a few have achieved it and many more are trying.
So is that what’s going on with this uniquely twenty-first century phenomenon, the flash mob? I don’t think so. If you’ve been following this story at all you know that the flash mobs become famous; their participants remain intentionally, happily anonymous.
This sensation is so new it’s hard to draw conclusions about it, and hard to prognosticate where it’ll go. The laws of unintended consequences suggest that a mob somewhere, someday, will delay an ambulance, or trigger some other tragedy, turning world opinion against it. Or the “artform” (what else would you call it?) will be co-opted by the corporate world, and it’ll become just another money machine.
Or, on the sunny side, it’ll continue to grow organically and remain the sole property of the gentle souls who just want to spread some smiles.
So what are flash mobs? They are gatherings that couldn’t exist without YouTube, without Twitter, without Facebook. But true to their spirit, they’ve subverted those dominant paradigms. Or maybe reverted them. They use the tools of our electron-culture to get us back where culture began: the public commons. They’ve gotten us back out onto the streets, smiling at each other.
There’s a flash mob tribe building. To join all you need to do is show up.
Whet your appetite with these. In no particular order, the best flash mobs of all time:
