Fifteen minutes of fame doesn’t even begin to describe what happens when your family blooper, your funny cat, or your teen pageant mess up ends up on the big Youtube screen. Remember the bleach blonde, well-tanned Miss South Carolina from Miss America 2007, who gave the most baffling answer ever to why Americans can’t point out the US on a map and became a Youtube sensation? New media artist Mark Callahan appropriates this youtube sensation in his work 24 hour Miss South Carolina, where the :43 original clip is stretched out and slowed down to last for 24 hours, symbolizing the always-on nature of the Internet. Watching this video for even a few moments gives us pause to think about the cult and culture of celebrity, voyeurism, and Internet memes on the Internet today.
I feel like Sound would really help this piece. As it is, I feel like I am focusing on the spectacle of the pageant contestant rather than on her actual answer (the spoken/broken prose). I look at her, I notice the minute movements and give them new inspection, but I am not re-thinking the action she has been so derided for. If the piece were to have sound tho, what should it be? A long low rumble, of the video played at this slow speed? Or perhaps the :43 second speech on repeat?