The twitterati are not happy with Facebook getting all the attention and subsequent lampooning. With the soon-to-be-released movie about the world’s largest online social site, titled The Social Network – producers like Indy Mogul and Siok Siok Tan are striking back with Twitter film projects to show that users can be as self-deprecating as Facebookers.
Siok Siok TanEarlier this month, in a post titled, "Twitter Documentary Guaranteed Not To Wipe You A**," I interviewed the award-winning Singaporean producer Tan about her upcoming feature called Twittamentary. Scheduled for a debut in late 2010 or early ’11, Siok Siok released a teaser video on YouTube that took a humorous approach to what Twitter can and can not do.
Siok Siok noted that this video was the first in a series of teasers that will be followed by a full trailer. "My thought behind the making of this teaser is similar to my approach to the film – that is, I am trying to find an entry point that will be engaging and entertaining for a general audience, not just those who are ‘Twitterholics.’" she says.
While Twitter critics abound in their belief that Twitter is responsible for dummying down the Internet, Indy Mogul took a similar approach with a 2 1/2 minute parody send-up about how we tweet randomly and incoherently. In the words of the producers, "If Hollywood can make an overly dramatic film about the early years of Facebook, why can’t we make an overly dramatic movie about Twitter? Or at least the trailer to that movie!"
The tongue-and-cheek material is classic in both trailers. For those that don’t use Twitter its easy to criticize what is perceived from the outside as a frivolous enterprise. But for those that work with the microblogging site daily, while we understand the intrinsic power the network offers brands and content publishers, it’s also fun to take a step back and laugh at ourselves.
Our collective self-absorption with networks like Twitter can sometimes stimulate compulsive behavior. So satire and parody is a good release to put the lens back in focus and balance our thinking. Hats off to Siok Siok Tan and Indy Mogul for keeping us in check.
