Taking it to the street : an examination of the flash mob phenomenon : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Visual and Material Culture at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
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Date
2012
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Massey University
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Abstract
In little less than a decade, ʻflash mobʼ has become an internationally recognised
phrase. What began in 2003 as a short-lived collection of personal experiments (Wasik,
2010), quickly flourished. Flash mobs include a wide spectrum of public performances
that share some bizarre features. As events, they begin without warning and end as
abruptly; the rationale for their fleeting existence is seemingly unexplainable,
confounding accepted performer and audience roles. This thesis constructs a timeline
of preceding performative practices linked to elements of the flash mob. These
practices are as diverse as Ancient Greek theatrical spectacle, the Surrealist
manifesto, and Happenings of the 1960s, which protested against an alternative
spectacle, the spectacle of capitalist society. Applying viewing practices that first arose
in the nineteenth centuryʼs early modern consumerist era illuminates features of the
contemporary flash mob. The identity of flash mob participants is analysed through
employing object-relation theories of material culture. Mobile communicative devices
are integral technological tools that feature prominently in examining the process of the
flash mob (Rheingold, 2000, 2003; Lanier, 2011). These communication tools,
particularly with the advent of Internet based social media websites, provide
opportunities to control the production process within a global context. This possibility
is explored utilising the Frankfurt Schoolʼs debates surrounding the ability to
meaningfully democratise a pervasive economic system. It is a parallel phenomenon of
which advertisers and political activists alike have taken advantage. Exploiting the
potential of the flash mob for such purposes has resulted in notable transformations.
Though above all else, central to each expression of the flash mob, is the principle of
the unexpected. Inexplicable surprise or punctum (Barthes, 2000) is presented herein
as common purpose of these professed ʻpointless actsʼ (OED, 2008). While flash mobs
continually aspire to confuse, this thesis arrives at underlying motivations centred upon
the consistently applicable feature of surprise prevalent in theoretical case studies.
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Keywords
Street performance, Flash mob