Everything seems to be irresistible as we allow ourselves to enter the virtual world.
Ang lahat ay tila hindi mapaglabanan sa pagkakataong pinahintulutan natin ang ating mga sarili na pasukin ang virtual na mundo.
INTRODUCTION
Last July 8, I had my first online performance which was one of my apprenticeship recitals in the Lipa Actors Company. It is also my first time creating my own performance—from choosing the topic, building its performance skeleton, and, my least favorite theater element, designing some technical stuff. Unlike my most performances that included list of lines from the script, my chosen form was in contemporary this time.
When I was in our student theater organization, Teatro Lasalyano, our batch grew both in performing traditional and contemporary theater. A traditional theater performance usually includes a combination of acting, singing, dance, dialogue, and music (exactly what you can be imagining right now); whereas a contemporary performance explores the maker's idea through research, education, immersion, movement, installation, documentation, live art, and/or performance art. In my research of further defining the both forms, I have come across this certain idea that I liked in making a contemporary performance—its commitment in exploring the form as an "act of community".
Making a contemporary performance also helps the artist's commitment in exploring the form as an "act of community".
For a brief background, I am an active social media user. I also worked in a digital marketing company to which, needless to say, gave me an essential reason to always go online. But this routine quite triggered expanding exhaustion within me. I didn't like it. There I knew that the world of social media is getting bigger for me and that on each day, I would be spending my life more in the virtual world rather than in reality. It felt like I was being replaced as a rope by two worlds playing Tug-of-War, and the virtual world is getting a good number of wins... sadly.
Social media has become loud and widely used over the years; it changed a lot depending on people's developing demands. On this day, little did we know that likes, shares, and reactions are reigning our self-confidence; checking of phone screens are becoming part of our morning routine; unlimited use of social media is giving us stress; the social function of the platform is being overlooked, turning it as a "boxing rink" because of our character differences; and people are simply just getting sucked in every time we allow ourselves to log in and scroll.
Honestly, I am still grieving how we are living the world today. Just how great does the gravitational pull of these gadgets are to our eyes now? How do we make social media as part of our lives? Do we simply post to share or get influenced to belong? Many people now have great influences in the world of social media, but are we using it for the good of everyone or solely for the betterment of our image? I guess we are all guilty of most of the aforementioned effects of social media to our lives.
And these rising concerns pushed me to create the performance that I, as an artist, believe that I must address. Its foundation started as a personal experience and it grew more as I injected perspectives from the community—which makes contemporary performance a perfect choice of form for this.
#CopyKat official short video teaser posted in Lipa Actors Company page for the Artist Spot Project: Batch 2
THE PROCESS
In building my performance recital, I only had roughly three weeks to compress my process.
Initially I chose how the band wagon fallacy is taking place in the world of social media as my performance topic. Band wagon fallacy is the appeal to the masses or common belief, "if many believe so, it is so."
Band Wagon Fallacy is the appeal to the masses or common belief; "if many believe so, it is so."
But as part of the solo brainstorming process, I was confused on which point to specially focus on. I wanted to explore the effect(s) of social media to one's opinion yet I had so many ideas going through my mind. My general idea was near to being half-baked with so many holes yet to fill in. Good thing I still had a small online group—composing my fellow performers and our curator—to rely on consultation, comments, and suggestions.
During my first consultation, the curator left me with this striking question: Does social media influence you or dictate you?
I was taken aback. Which side am I on?
So I went back from the start. I reviewed all the points I have jotted down. I made sure to write all of my thoughts in my notebook because that's how performance-making works—you will never know that the terms you have randomly written down earlier can actually trigger greater ideas to fill in the blanks later.
We were required to have at least two online test performances before our scheduled performance day and to invite test audiences as well to participate in our artistic process. The first test performance turned good which I didn't expect. I was not that confident in the result of my pagsusuri (research) and pagninilay (reflection), but the message of my performance was able to reach them. From this test performance and from what the feedback I received, I have finally made up my mind that social media consumption will be my special focus.
Before I perform my second test performance, I initiated an online interview with my close friends in social media to support my research. With their combined perspectives, I realized how the social media has grown so much from just being a hand-sized sphere to a big world now. All of my interviewees were just like me—we experienced how the gradual growth of social media has also gradual effects on our well-being as we grow up.
We became dependent on the platform and this became normal, too.
I also won't forget what one of my interviewees shared during our discussion, "Ang social media ay isang mundo na created in the image of reality, pero it is idealized." [Social media is a world created in the image of reality, but it is idealized.]
Social media is a world created in the image of reality, but it is idealized.
Can this be one of the reasons why we couldn't take our eyes off the screen? Are we afraid of what's happening in the real world, that is why we tend to create our own versions of reality in the virtual world? This idea randomly made me think, too: what if we imagine the social media world as real and existent? You know, Earth's twin planet just for the sake of painting a picture of it. How do you think the people "living" there would look like? Will they be different from one another or the same/copycats of one another?
Well, I don't know yet how to inject this; but this idea is one thing I would like to explore as this work progresses.
Just one thing I am sure about: I am scared how inappropriate and overly-dependent use of social media can make us inhuman as time goes by.
After processing things, I gave my self a little rest for days; but I actually overdid it. This created a confusion in understanding my craft's objective. It's a yes to social media consumption, but which supporting point am I aiming for emphasis—influence or dictatorship?
Going back to the question: Does social media influence you or dictate you?
I convinced myself that "influence" is already out of the question. Influence is actually obvious all over the virtual world; the concept is entirely given. Then I was so drawn in the idea of dictatorship to which I believe this is one thing that adds another terror to its [virtual world] image. I knew its position in my objectives is possible. So in building my performance, I viewed social media as a dictator-like. As the social media gains power and rule over us users, it can dictate one's emotions, societal standards, and satisfaction. It can dictate what we should/should not or can/cannot do. Aside from influencing, worse, social media can also be dictating us that it must be part of our existence or system nowadays.
Snippets from my live online performance, #CopyKat
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Yes, see more.
Stay where you are. Do not look away from your screen. React! Share it. Comment below. Everything seems to be irresistible as we allow ourselves to enter the virtual world."
#CopyKat is a contemporary work in progress that explores the effects of social media consumption on one's individuality. The work also challenges the idea of dictatorship that can happen after giving in to the uncontrollable urge to log in.
I designed my performance based on my character's, known as Kat, daily routine in using social media. I performed it in my room, only showing the plain, dull corner of it and my bed as one of its major prop elements. Kat—being a social media addict—couldn't just resist the temptation of logging in, causing her to stay online for long. In the performance, it was shown how Kat, after totally isolating herself, gets to be consumed by the virtual world and how the room's atmosphere turned differently—from plain to being conflicted.
"Bothered", "I can see myself in Kat", "Parang pinapanood ko yung sarili ko" [It's like I'm watching myself] are some of the comments I received after my performance.
Now who is Kat? I portrayed Kat. I am Kat—and anyone can be Kat. Why is that? Because we are slowly turning into copies of one another. In my study, Kat actually is a shortened term that stands for "katauhan" [persona/character], "katangian" [characteristic], and "katayuan" [stand/opinion].
Here in social media, we tend to imitate the style or behavior of what we watch or see. We tend to jump into what's trending now. We tend to side on which the majority stands for without gaining the full knowledge about it.
My performance does not aim to attack the social media. Of course, social media was designed for making our lives easier especially in communication. I fully acknowledge that. All inventions and innovations are launched for a greater good, it just depends on how we consume them.
I just wanted my audience to see how we may be turning the world of social media dangerous to anyone and even to ourselves. Let's check ourselves whenever we read or see something online; is our expression, feeling, or view genuine or generated? Do we still give ourselves limitations in using social media? Do we still apply values in using it? Does the option of anonymity give us the courage to ignore humanity? Is our social media usage still healthy?
Is social media part of your life or is it your life now?
Are you the one consuming it or is it the one consuming you?
Let's check ourselves whenever we read or see something online; is our expression, feeling, or view genuine or generated?
This performance aims to offer the viewer a chance to reflect and see if he or she is Kat. It's a reminder. It's a possible projection of anyone. Let's say, a reality in the virtual world.
THE REFLECTION
How I see my work now is different from last month. Because of the recent news and issues I have seen online, I got terrified of what social media brings us. As an artist, we can really bring great influence in the social media especially when our names are highly recognized by many followers. The internet has truly empowered our voice, yes; but I guess in reality, this privilege is being abused—and sadly by some big personalities or influencers.
Social media has become a place of paradoxical persons. It's seemingly difficult to understand one's action that is contradicting to his or her "advocacy" projected online.
Our dependence on social media to address a concern will not be enough if it is not supported by right action. For example, the culture of calling-out or "cancel" culture online has become widely used and some people joining in the activity, being driven by overwhelming emotions and maybe number of doers, are not fully aware of its repercussions—especially if it's directed against someone. We are educated now to stand on what is right, but sometimes we are forgetting how to humanely stand on what is right.
Again, we can't totally live our lives online. There are things that are better done or dealt if it's outside the social media. As we all know the negative effects of social media in one's social being and how quick influence is reaching out a large scope of community every second, we must be reminded to be responsible of our statements and actions online. Let us stay as humans who can think, speak, and educate with compassion. We are not robots that automatically shares generated views.
If you are interested in having a discussion about my work, feel free to contact me. I'm delighted to exchange views and learn from you to help me develop #CopyKat. If you haven't watched it, click here! Copyright Notice: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Thank you for reading my blog and I hope that my thoughts have reached you.