From Tilla Tequilla to Chocolate Rain, media born sensations seem to happen on a weekly basis. With 24 hour cable news cycles and the growing popularity of social media, a new genre of celebrity has been introduced into the mainstream. The phrase, “don’t taze me bro”, is now a household saying, while the natural phenomenom known as a ‘double rainbow’ almost guarantees a chuckle amongst a group of friends. PUBLIC explores the latest group of overnight celebrities.
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For those of you who have been living under a rock and may not know who Antoine Dodson is- he is the charismatic gentleman who debuted in a local news report turned YouTube sensation turned popular auto-tune song. Antoine’s colorful explanation as to what happened that one fateful day when his sister was attacked and almost raped has caught the attention of so many that Antoine now has his own song, T-shirt line and most recently- an online fund to “get out of the projects.”
In today’s “real-time” news society it’s not surprising at all that Antoine has become so popular. The star of that local newscast that debuted in late July has now become a full-fledged media sensation. Unfortunately for Antoine Dodson, his 15 minutes may be up, and he has Steven Slater to thank for that.
Steven Slater is the newest media sensation to hit the blogosphere, twitter-verse, and news-cycle. Slater, as you may know, is the JetBlue flight attendant who gained attention after his dramatic exit from work this past Monday. After a rude passenger allegedly verbally abused Slater and hit him in the head with the overhead compartment bin, the flight attendant dropped some F-bombs over the plane’s PA system, grabbed some beers and hit the emergency exit.
The story, which broke on Monday, has spread like wildfire- it’s been covered by every news outlet and of course the late night comics have weighed in on the fun as well. Slater, like Dodson even now has his own T-shirt line and Facebook fan page. Even before Dodson and Slater stole the scene, the media sensation known as “the Barefoot Bandit” had his very own Facebook fan club, media blitz and I’m sure some T-shirts were made at some point during his 15 minutes.
Fleeting media sensations aren’t anything new to our media obsessed culture, but my question is this: what really makes a media sensation? In our ADD culture, we want and get everything immediately, then dispose it once we’re bored. What did Antoine Dodson and Steven Slate have that gave them staying power?
If you ask me, I’d have to say it was their gregarious personalities- the fact that they were just being themselves, unrehearsed, and unhinged. Our society loves those individuals who are a little different, a little out there, but mostly those are just being themselves.
This could possibly explain the phenomenon that is Jersey Shore, and the downfall of Jake Pavelka. The former relished in their outlandish personalities and made no excuses for their honest behavior, while the latter became a calculated phony- we already HAVE actors Jake, we don’t need any more.
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-Arielle
Tags: perception, sensation, Social Media
