I must confess I didn't watch the whole video, mostly because I don't like things with hype around them and I am skeptical of anything posted on Facebook but also because I wasn't sure if I felt it was actually as beautiful as many people seem to think it was. People seemed enthralled by the idea of two strangers magically connecting in a beautiful moment of intimacy that was so "real" and "profound" and "beautiful"... The irony being that this video was not ANY of those things. Had the artist done the experiment for real, I am not sure what the results may have been but ultimately I wonder if my feelings toward it would be any different.
To me it just seems that everyone is desperate for connection and also desperate to be as "open" to all forms of connection because God forbid you are caught out being a closet conservative. But what struck me as ironic is that in everyone's rush to share this video of "authentic connection" no one stopped to check if it was in fact what it claimed to be... The openness was in some strange way, a closed-ness. People were open to other people's idea of openness... If that makes any sense.
I guess what I am getting at is not that I have any problem with the video per se, or with people sharing it for that matter. I am also not saying that sharing it was stupid, I have been caught out many times by things I thought were cool that turned out to be rubbish. It's just that there is this idea that this "authentic connection" can be found, one, online (no) and, two, by being intimate with a stranger.... (?).
Firstly, I don't believe that authentic connection can be found on a laptop screen and I also don't believe that people kissing in black and white necessarily equals beautiful.
The most authentic connections I have experienced in my life have been in moments of true feeling, where there has been an honesty of emotion... And often it was very painful. Not beautifully crafted, made-to-look-authentic, fake kissing videos.
So in all of this, for me it's not about the video really, but about being aware that Facebook is mostly full of rubbish, and that authentic connection is to be found out in the real world not on a laptop screen.
Witty sign off.
