Say it ain't so, lonelygirl15

By Jo Anna Van Thuyne
Collegian Reporter
September 27, 2006

Somewhere in cyberspace, there is a lonely 16-year-old-girl reaching out to the world via video blog; internationally, she is known as lonelygirl15. Her parents are extremely religious, and she is home-schooled. Because of this, she is doomed to never leave the house and enjoy the riches of a social life. Her friend, Daniel, is desperately trying to show her life outside of her house, but to no avail.

So lonelygirl15, or Bree, broadcasts her “loneliness” through the magic of YouTube.com, hoping to have some human contact, and Daniel tries to show her love. You can’t write entertainment this good.

Well, apparently you can. Recently, producers of lonelygirl15’s blog have announced that the whole thing was a hoax. Bree is actually a 19-year-old actress named Jessica Rose from New Zealand, and the blog was a giant creation from a Hollywood studio. The video blog was created by Ramesh Flinders – a screenwriter and film maker from Marin County, Calif. – and Miles Beckett, a surgical resident dropout-turned-film maker. Their hope was to create a new brand of storytelling through the art of video blogging.

While you may find this story interesting, YouTubers are up in arms. Millions of loyal subscribers feel betrayed and angry. Bree is no longer the “pretend girlfriend” of millions of YouTubers, but a betrayer and a breaker of hearts. People are slandering her name, unsubscribing, spitting at their computer screens, and crying themselves to sleep.

I, however, don’t see what the big deal is. I will admit I am a YouTubeaholic. I am subscribed to lonelygirl15’s saga, and I still watch every heart-stopping moment of it.

Some people are speculating that this video blog is one giant promotion for a horror movie. This makes sense considering that Bree’s parents are somewhat hinted to being involved with the occult. If this is the case, I’m all for the lonelygirl15 movie.

It’s an interesting way to promote a movie. To give the viewer an intimate portrait of the main character, that movies don’t usually portray. When people flock to see this film, they are already emotionally connected to the character, and the horror can commence without a back-story. Now who doesn’t want that?

But every Tom, Dick and Harry on the Internet is heartbroken and furious with Hollywood. The question is: was it ethical for the producers of lonelygirl15 to fool the YouTube community? This wouldn’t be the first time that characters on YouTube were found out to be fictional. Need I remind you of EmoKid21Ohio, emogirl21 and renetto? All of these users used fictional characters to get noticed on YouTube. Granted, they didn’t have the magic of Hollywood to help them along, but they still pulled the wool over our eyes.

So, lay off lonelygirl15 and her production crew. I give them thumbs up on their efforts, and I will continue to watch the saga unfold. Oh, and the movie opening better be hyped up more than that Snakes on a Whatever movie.

vanthuynej1@lasalle.edu