[arg_discuss] ARG vs. Hoax

[despain at quantumcontent.com]

I've recently heard two ARG-related cross-media efforts described in the
press as "hoaxes." (That would be LonelyGirl15 and Nextgencode.) I can't
say I like my work being labeled a hoax. I'm not trying to decieve people,
I'm trying to immerse them in an entertainment experience. Is that so
wrong?

Today I was perusing The Onion as I sometimes do when trying to write
comedy, and I came across this headline:

"New Alternate-Reality Series Puts 12 Strangers On Island Where South Won
Civil War"

And it got me wondering. Why don't people call The Onion a hoax news site?
They don't even tackle current events, like The Daily Show does. Is there
a subtle difference I'm missing here? Onion stories are written to mimic
news stories. They could easily be taken out of context as a real news
story if you're not paying close attention to the humor.

Why are we hoaxers and they're comedians?

Full text of the Alternate-Reality series story follows, for your perusing
pleasure.

Wendy Despain
quantumcontent.com


LOS ANGELES—CBS executives announced Monday that they have begun filming
Antebellum Island, a new "alternate reality" series in which 12 strangers
compete for $1 million while isolated on an island still under Confederate
rule.

Enlarge Image New Alternate-Reality Series Puts 12 Strangers On Island
Where South Won Civil War

Antebellum Island

"Set to air in the spring of 2004, Antebellum Island gives us the unique
opportunity to play with both social dynamics and recorded history," CBS
Chairman Leslie Moonves said. "The contestants on Antebellum Island will
spend 60 days braving the elements, each other, and the unfamiliar customs
and practices of a 21st-century Confederate States of America—all for a
chance to win a cool million."

Added Moonves: "That's one million in Union dollars, of course!"

Moonves said contestants will be isolated on a sun-drenched tropical
island, where they will participate in competitions designed to emphasize
teamwork and interpersonal friction in the rigidly stratified
alternate-universe society.

The Big Four networks have seen dwindling Nielsen numbers for variations
on reality shows, a trend CBS hopes to reverse with a new genre of
programs that "go beyond reality."

"When we were brainstorming this show, we knew we wanted an eclectic cast
and an exotic locale," said Matt Davies, executive producer of Antebellum
Island. "But none of the ideas were clicking as 'reality plus totally
new'—until someone said, 'Hey, no one's done a show set in an America
where the Union army lost, and Jefferson Davis replaced Lincoln as
president.' We knew we had a winner."

Davies said CBS also seriously considered another alternate-reality series
called The Man In The High Castle In The Outback, in which 12 women would
compete for the love of a Jewish man hiding in Australia under an assumed
name because the Allies lost WWII to Nazi Germany. Ultimately, executives
deemed the scenario less likely to engage the average American viewer than
the post-Civil-War alternate reality.

Scouts chose a tropical location after they failed to find an island in
the Mississippi River with enough land mass to sustain the
manufacturing-based economy of a country that did not begin its transition
from an agricultural society to a modern industrial society until the
early 1900s.

Enlarge Image New Alternate-Reality Series Puts 12 Strangers On Island
Where South Won Civil War jump

Three Antebellum Island contestants in a scene from the show's premiere
episode.

"It's a totally new and exciting location," Davies said. "Our 12 strangers
must adapt to the altogether-unfamiliar territory of an island where the
states and the people are guaranteed those rights not specifically
delegated to the federal government!"

Contestant auditions for Antebellum Island were held in Washington, DC,
and Richmond, VA. Interviewees were asked such questions as: "Do you
consider yourself fun-loving and up for new challenges?" "Do you believe
women should be given the vote?" and "Do you reckon Dred Scott shoulda
been hung from the highest tree?"

"We have a good mix of people for our first cast—all colors and creeds,"
Davies said. "On this show, as you might imagine, diversity is especially
crucial. We plan to break the participants into two 'families,' the Masons
and the Dixons."

"In casting the show, we looked for people who displayed adaptability,
good judgment, and impeccable hospitality," Davies said. "But we wanted to
let the contestants' personalities shape the show. We didn't just look to
fill the typical slots: plantation owner, houseboy, carpetbagger, and
Uncle Tom."

Executives were reluctant to reveal the themes for Antebellum's weekly
competitions, but said contests might include skeet shooting, quilting
bees, formal-dress cotillions, and working at a textile factory on the
west side of the island for the entire show's duration with no chance at
the $1 million prize.

Davies said the show's first episode will feature an adventure-filled
whitewater-rafting trip, in which one team will attempt to make it to the
"New Orleans Checkpoint," while the other will try to stop it from meeting
up with the British ships in port and demanding asylum.

"We've thought a lot about how contestants should be kicked off the
island," Davies said. "The voting thing has been done to death, and
anyway, on our island, voting is a very touchy subject. Right now, we're
toying with allowing cast members to just escape to the North. But it
might be neat to choreograph some sort of mad uprising for the final
episode. Whatever we do, you can bet it'll be exciting, tension-filled,
and consistent with an America where slavery and states' rights survived
long after the 1860s."