Lonelygirl15

Renilicious · Suspiciously Absent Joined: 19 Sep 2006 Posts: 1

In all seriousness, I had watched the first two videos on You Tube today before I actually saw off a friends blog that it wasn't real. I wasn't phased. I don't understand why these people who are reacting violently (at least violently in the verbal sense through comments on websites, blogs and via YouTube response) are putting up such a fuss. You see the same thing on television every day, for goodness sakes. The OC or Veronica Mars are a prime example. The only difference is that the main subject of the audience is directly addressing her audience and happens to be on YouTube. No one tells you that what you see on telly is real or not real. Why should YouTube be considered anything else other than an online indepedent TV channel?

"Oh! But it's on YouTube and looks like a video, it's GOTTA be real."

Yeah, right. And I am really Cindy Crawford. NOT!!!! People! If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck, with the exception that if it's posted on YouTube, it's very likely a three-legged pink zebra.

If you want reality, then go watch geriatric1927 and his mates. There are hundreds of people now re-telling their REAL lives on YouTube for the sake of those who would happily hang off every word and are just as enjoyable.

There are hundreds of people doing this very same thing on YouTube but I think the distinct difference between them and LG15 is that LG15 was a charming and seemingly innocent take on the life of your average schoolgirl with just a little more skill in the recording department to make it thoroughly enjoyable to watch. It was a cute, unoffensive little soap opera and I watched them all and really enjoyed them for what they were.

Think of it this way, no one forced you to believe that it was "real". Those who thought it was and got pissed because it wasn't need a serious reality check. No one alluded to it being real except for the audience. It was an experiment in film-making that was very successful by these few amateurs and for that I give them kudos. It was an extremely good production and I look forward to (and hope for) more in the future.

wizard3 · Suspiciously Absent Joined: 13 Sep 2006 Posts: 4

Another message from the thought police - Telling other people why they should not have the feelings they have, by "thinking of it" another [your] way.

zoeyramone · Suspiciously Absent Joined: 17 Sep 2006 Posts: 1

afewthings · Suspiciously Absent Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 10

many people got upset because it was presented as real - a vlog.

On television you expect things to be scripted.

On youtube there has been an underlying assumption that vlogs reflect a real person, not an actor who is speaking the words a team of film makers have written.

When I first stumbled across a LG15 video, my first instinct was that it was scripted. It just came across that way. It was only until after I discovered all the speculation about whether it was fake or not that I even considered the possibility that it may be real. So I wasn't suprised or upset when I found out it was really an actress with a script.

Though I can understand people who did feel deceived and angry. The producers of this went to every level to ensure it was presented as real - from creating this site as if it was the work of a fan...to creating a fake myspace page and having Bree reply to comments on youtube as if she were real. They only came out as fake when it was obvious by the media attention that they had to.

I don't know if what they did was wrong or not. It's a bit of a grey area. But the producers could have perhaps handled it in a different way.

Renilicious - people are not pissed off because Bree isn't real. They are pissed off because they were led to believe she was real. A lot of people invested a lot of thought, care and empathy towards her...and to find out she was actually an actress must have been a big blow to them.

BlackRiven · Suspiciously Absent Joined: 25 Sep 2006 Posts: 16

Lady`Sapphire · Suspiciously Absent Joined: 24 Sep 2006 Posts: 5

I would disagree that it's stupid to become emotionally invested in a person one knows through their "vlog," if only because some (many? most?) of the people who post such things on youtube are being legitimate or "real" and presenting their actual selves. (Or, at least, the actual self that people present to strangers through a semi-anonymous forum.) A basic tenet of "virtual communities" such as IRC chats, BBS and forums, blogs, and vlogs, is to remember that the other people who post are people on the other side of the (computer) screen. It's easy to divorce humanity from "virtual" communication based on text (or audio or video) on a screen. To maintain empathy and compassion while not "knowing" the people for whom one has that empathy and compassion is not stupid. It is, however, inherently risky, because the people for whom one extends compassion may not (often are not?) be who they present themselves to be. From personal experience, they may be psychos who are just out to lie to people and about people and see what kind of malicious trouble they can cause. Bree, at least, is not malicious in her betrayal of the people who care(d) for her.

In other cases, people are who they present themselves to be. And, from personal experience, can become wonderful friends. I married a man I met through IRC chat. So, that investment in a person beyond the computer screen can be a fantastic thing.

All in all, it's a crapshoot.
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Clever Creators. I never heard of LG15 until the "hoax" was revealed. Good way to suck people in.

BlackRiven · Suspiciously Absent Joined: 25 Sep 2006 Posts: 16

Dunneh · Casual Observer Joined: 25 Sep 2006 Posts: 51

Well, I kinda agree. I don't see any real emotional investment here-- nothing that isn't one-sided on the part of the watcher, so it does seem silly for people to get SO mad about it.

Although you should note that in the very begining "Bree" DID reply to comments on her 'vlog' and thus she did essentially 'converse' with people watching her videos. It further made her seem more 'real' (and consequently more deceitful when found out) than not interacting at all, and it may have lead some users to believe (especially when she referenced them in her videos) that she was their friends.

Having said that, she does have something like 37 videos over 2 months and her community participation dropped later on as things got stranger, so that should have been a red flag to the audience. I myself have no real opinion on it because I came into it after finding out it wasn't real.

I imagine if one was with this from the very start, believing, then made to feel like a sucker probably annoyed those who really did trust "Bree" hence the anger. In a way, they are kind of justified in that anger.

Perhaps there are bigger issues to be angry about, but people take different things to heart, and this is just one of those things.

I talk too much.

BlackRiven · Suspiciously Absent Joined: 25 Sep 2006 Posts: 16