Getting Down On Friday (Patreon)

This week, Hussein and Phoebe talk about two important online videos that went viral, made their protagonists the original "main characters" - but each one dealt with the virality, celebrity, surveillance and subsequent bullying in different ways - and what that might tell us about how we understand 'virality' now.  We talk about the 'Star Wars Kid', video and Rebecca Black's "Friday", how they defined their respective eras of online, and how, at a time when everyone is a content creator, the only ways to escape the trappings of going viral - and becoming the "main character" are either to simply log off and disappear, or lean into online celebrity entirely. Neither are particularly desirable!

We also talk about Kyle Chayka's recent New Yorker Essay, "We All Have Main Character Energy Now", which you can read here: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/we-all-have-main-character-energy-now