Once Upon a Facebook, 31. min

Once Upon a Facebook is a video documentation of a fairy tale that unfolds on Facebook.  It includes your favorite fairy tale characters disguised as everyday friends on the social media website. The characters in the play are Cindy Rella, Snowie White, Sleppyie Bootie, Prinze Charming, Maleficent Queen, Steph Sista, and Steven Dwarvs.  Due to restrictions, Facebook makes it hard to use fictitious names, so names had to be cleverly disguised in order for the process to begin. Each character needed its own e-mail address, and Facebook does not allow two friends to be open at the same time on one computer, so this became challenging to go back and forth.

Cindy Rella is the main character and the filming is done mostly of her page. Each character has a profile, images and makes status updates as well as responds to Cindy Rella. Some of the dialogue has been taken directly from the Disney book “Princesses, “ which includes the stories, Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. I have also taken posts by my Facebook friends, and specific incidents from my own Facebook experiences.

Let’s face it Facebook is a valuable professional tool for many people, and it does satisfy some need to be less isolated at a culture. In addition to businesses and political groups, artists are able to disseminate information about exhibitions and new work and their voices get heard. Families are able to stay in touch across the country, and old friendships are able to be rekindled. However for some of us, social media is an artificial way in which people interact and at times can lead to domestic drama within cyberspace. Some “friends”  live out fantasies, whether because they have the inability to have social skills to do this face to face, or they reach out because their real lives are far too boring and they need something else more stimulating and responsive, yet safe (no commitments).

There are overlapping love stories between characters, public announcements of relationships beginning, as well as ending. I have done some stereotyping here with my characters, and have poked fun at some of my friends’ as well as my own postings. I continue to explore fairy tales and childhood influences to further explain the way we all move about our adult lives, and I have framed it in a medium that is so popular today. Using the vehicle of Facebook is meant to have us look at the ways in which we have become a very public and very voyeuristic society, still trying to live out fantasy, and watching it unfold before our eyes.