[arg_discuss] Blair Witch

[Brian Clark]

Timewarping from the holidays into some of these discussions assuming that
Mike answers his creator questions, but I have some vested interest in some
of this conceptually as well:

Hugh Davies wrote:

>For what is worth, I took "staged discussion" to mean stuff like forums,

>documentaries and other media that are created to reinforce the

>mythology of the original text.


Unfortunately, it read to me like "faked discussions" especially after
labeling BW a "hoax" (making it sound like a synonym for what in the States
we might call "astroturfing" -- or creating the appearance of a grassroots
effort.)

BW was more organic than that and actually started on outside websites
before Mike and crew got a BW website up. That aside, even if they didn't
... even if they hosted those discussions ... does "staged" really work as a
description for the social media media portions (which is what I would think
the writer was referring to with the "discussions" part?)

Perhaps ... in general ... "faked" might be a good word to avoid as an ARG
development community. Fiction is fakery with artistic instead of
manipulative intent. Myth is a good word for narratives that are malleable.
Faked brings with it a pejorative context that I know Mike and I have both
had to work hard to build differentiation from. 


-----Original Message-----
From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org] On
Behalf Of Hugh Davies
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2006 8:49 PM
To: ARG_Discuss at igda.org
Subject: [arg_discuss] Blair Witch

Forgive my ignorance Micheal, but I haven't seen your discussions outlining
the elements of transparency in Blair Witch campaign in this list so i
appogise if im skipping over well trodden ground. I can only guess that this
discussion happened over a year ago and thus before my time.

I have to say, at the time of its release there was little to suggest to the
average punter that Blair Witch was anything but kosher in that kind of
social "saw it with my own eyes" urban myth way. I noticed Wikipedia
mentions Blair Witch as "presented as documentary" yet many sites refer to
it lovingly as a hoax.

I guess what I'm most curious about what term do you feel would best
represent the nature of the Blair Witch text?



ps

For what is worth, I took "staged discussion" to mean stuff like forums,
documentaries and other media that are created to reinforce the mythology of
the original text.
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