If shamelessness makes you cringe, the 2020's may not be for you. Image-making and celebrity had been the ideals that drove much of what we've watched and what we've posted for a couple decades. Think of the immaculate personal images projected on Instagram or the celebrity creation, grooming and maintenance in franchises like "The Bachelor" or "Real Housewives."But maybe a new blueprint is emerging. Last week, the creator of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel, suggested that TikTok has ushered in a new "talent-based" era of media, replacing the earlier "status-based" era. "Social media in its original construct is really about status, representing who you are, showing people that you're cool, getting likes and comments, those sorts of things," Spiegel said. When asked if TikTok could become bigger than Instagram, Spiegel responded: "I think it's certainly possible because this talent-based content is often more interesting than status-based content."I'd argue that "The Circle," then, is our first piece of post-TikTok culture, a three-week reality TV event on Netflix that shows what it's like when we stop caring how we are seen by others and start wanting to be seen by any means necessary.
"The Circle" starts out with a social media spin on the typical reality competition premise: "How far would you go to be popular on social media if there were $100,000 at stake?"The contestants live in one apartment building that looks like the set of the worst influencer's sponsored post. The screen is constantly overstuffed with social media signifiers and symbols. And the anchor of the series is a not-subtle allusion to Amazon's Echo and Alexa. At first it feels like the show will be "America's Next Top Influencer."But as the series goes on, an obsession with authenticity and being your true self begins to surface. The contestants rank each other every episode, with the lowest ranked contestant being voted out of the building, but there's no shared criteria for how the contestants determine their ranking. With all of the suspicions of "Catfishing" and players representing themselves as something they're not, the players who are most loyal to the truth about themselves or most consistently honest about themselves often gain the trust of other contestants and survive for another episode. The show is really a race to be the most shamelessly exposed.
On the surface is social media shimmer, a slathering of jargon and icons. But at heart it's about something different than the old social media virtue of projecting an unrealistic image. Nicholas Carr, in a brilliant post on TikTok last week, wrote: "If Instagram showed us what a world without art looks like, TikTok shows us what a world without shame looks like. The old virtues of restraint โ prudence, discretion, tact โ are gone. There is only one virtue: to be seen." What's fascinating about "The Circle" is that underneath the trappings of Instagram culture is a conceit that each of us deserves to be appreciated for who we are, to win because we are the most ourselves. It might not have been TikTok that convinced us that each of us is a major talent in waiting. But "The Circle" is coming at the exact moment that media that harnesses our shamelessness to show ourselves off is exploding and upending how we share and watch things. Carr goes on: "To manufacture the unlimited supply of content that an app like TikTok needs, [it requires] a culture that encourages and celebrates self-exposure and self-promotion. Vanity must go unchecked by modesty.
The showoff, once a risible figure, must become an aspirational one."If you're watching the Circle with your jaw on the floor, know that it's not the only media that rewards shamelessness. It might be looked back at as the first big shared piece of culture to mark this shift, though.
The shorter stuff
Let the inescapable press for the new Hillary documentary series on Hulu begin. (THR)
Speaking of documentary series, this upcoming Michael Jordan one called The Last Dance actually looks good. (Twitter)
While they were recording his podcast, Joe Rogan told Bill Maher that ABC asked him to reboot Maher's old show "Politically Incorrect" and Bill Maher was visibly taken aback. (YouTube)
Speaking of Rogan, every single presidential candidate supposedly asked him to for a podcast interview and turned all of them down except for Sanders, Gabbard and Yang. (Twitter)
This New York Post piece on the hosts of Barstool Sports' podcast "Call Her Daddy" is one of the most insane takedowns I've ever read. (NYP)
On Monday night's Chapo Trap House, the Safdie Brothers told a story about calling into legendary internet radio show the Best Show with Tom Scharpling to test out the voice of the character Nick from their last film Good Time. (Soundcloud)
I am getting the feels from all the old characters I remember from the 90's that the Trump Cinematic Universe is bringing back this year. (NYT)
Anyone ever subscribed to or met anyone who is subscribed to Luminary? Curious. (The Verge)
Seth MacFarlane is a big business. And this isn't even including his Fox show Family Guy. (THR)
HBOMax has a Wizarding World problem: it's going to take years until they've got the content. (VF)
You mean swarming one of China's great historical treasures with menacing soldiers didn't endear Star Wars in the hearts of one billion people? (NYT)
I make fun of some franchises, but I genuinely love "Star Trek," especially "The Next Generation." I am rooting for "Picard." (NYT)
I leave with you two contrasting images of the East Village. First, a new Baby Yoda mural above the entrance to the 2nd Ave. F stop. (Gothamist)
Second, photos from inside the Mars Bar, which until a few years ago stood only a block away. I was lucky enough to experience it, briefly. (Eater)