Shawyer dissertation May 2008 final version - The University of ...

theatre. Many initial media reports describe flash mobs in terms of performance, forexample, as “quirky entertainment” (Stewart par. 16), indebted to guerrilla theatre(Berens 112), or “anarchic mass performance art,” (Phil Miller 12), an “impromptuhuman art exhibit” (Hatton B1), and a “reality-checking 10-minute piece of performance”(“What’s” 12). The comparison to performance is apt. Flash mobs use the guerrillatheatre tactic of rapid set-up and dispersal. Incongruous actions like twirling through anintersection (San Francisco), raising a glass to toast “Natasha” (Berlin), or dancing in thestreet (Bombay), take on aesthetic value when performed in public spaces used for otherpurposes. The performance form of the Happening similarly draws attention to everydayactions—such as pouring water into a bucket—as events that can be appreciated for theiraesthetic value. 80 At the same time, the apolitical nature of flash mobs echoedHappenings and other non-matrixed performances that emphasize structure over content.Without a clear social or political purpose, flash mobs were understood by the media asevents with some kind of cultural purpose.As a performance form, the flash mob includes many of the same elements as theYippies’ revolutionary action-theater. Like the Yippies’ performances, flash mobs takeplace in public spaces that are spacious enough for a large crowd and easily accessible:parks, parking lots, hotel lobbies, and street corners. Just like revolutionary action-theaterevents organized by the Yippies were meant to poke fun at the Establishment, flash mobscontain a sense of the carnivalesque. Both Yippies and flash mobbers reject inhibitions80 This example comes from an untitled performance event at Black Mountain College in 1952 (Goldberg126).214