I have looked at the ‘Poppy’ project during the last units, so when I came across this Article in a Journal of Humanities exploring alternative realities I was enthralled.
“The use of multiple references introduces a game between what is real and what is fictional. Indeed, these different references can play on the identity of Poppy, between Illuminati’s doll, fembot and performer.” – pg 77
“A Narrative Weaving
The Poppy Project, which has more than 300 videos shared on YouTube, is built around a dual narrative system. The first narration is based on the clearest message of the videos, the speech: when Poppy speaks about the fact that it is important to be famous or to have money, she produces a speech that puts forward the values to which she attaches importance. These values will be the basis of the formation of her archetypal character, the idol.” – pg 77
“The Poppy Project presents an archetype of standardized pop-culture. This archetype is parodied into a satirical content which incorporates representative elements of its philosophy and its values. The criticism of mass culture is expressed through a satirical use of consumption goods and social networks.” – pg 77-78
“She stays impassive, with voice intonations that reflect the desired artificiality.” pg 78
“The whole aesthetic is designed with a remarkable degree of precision. The white-pink background locks the scene into an empty universe, which in certain videos leads to the backstage of a film set. The minimalist stage set produces a feeling of artificiality…” pg 78
“The elements presented contribute to the creation of a universe that plays between fiction and reality. In a video entitled “Do You Believe in The Internet?” Poppy says: “If it’s on the internet, it’s real!” Poppy’s YouTube channel is built around this prerequisite which allows her to establish a troubled area around her identity. This vagueness around her identity is found throughout the videos and helps to create a narrative around the evolution of Poppy as her career takes off.” pg 78
“Creation of a Futuristic Entity: From The Singer to the Fembot. The videos in Poppy’s YouTube channel are both artistic and parodic. The videos are generally short, between 0:30 seconds and 1:30 minutes. These short formats offer hermetic content that can initially be hard to grasp, mostly with monologues, using a restricted vocabulary. This allows the buildup of a storytelling: specific sentences can be used in different videos, creating a cryptic narration that viewers learn to discern in the background.”- pg 82
“Poppy uses the aesthetic and behavioral elements that relate to the human robot and more specifically to the fembot. Her physical appearance corresponds to the current criteria of feminine beauty and her attitude would evoke a robot that tries to reproduce human behaviors, like when she said: “Am I Doing Right?” as the chat bot Zo in the epoym video. The Poppy Project aims at building the persona of the fembot by attributing to it characteristics expected for this type of profile. Thus, the Poppy fembot will be designed on the basis of the Japanese idol: young, childish appearance that brings an image of innocence and purity. The meticulous aesthetics of her videos and especially her wardrobe choice combine with her cold expression to create an artificial imagery. This impression of artificiality is related to the concept of “uncanny valley”, the theory of the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori, highlighting the gap between the human and the imaginary.” pg 83-84
“As Linda Hutcheon points out: “Parody is doubly coded in political terms: it both legitimates and subverts that which it parodies” (101). Indeed, the use of representative elements of pop culture shows this dual use. While the videos establish a critical distance from the subject, the representation of the object or subject tends to promote it even though it is parodied. Hence, by producing a channel that parodies the elements of pop culture while using its codes, representations and ideology, Poppy becomes an allegory which will in turn be idolized by her fans. The parody thus becomes real and leads the watchers of her videos to conform eventually to the object of derision. The path of irony subverts the expressed ideology so that it finds an audience that is sensitive to it. The whole parodic production leads, ironically, to the reinforcement of the expressed ideology. The fans choose to follow the proposed artificiality. The Poppy Project is therefore a production that is deeply rooted in postmodernism. The parody of pop culture empties it of its content in order to remove any historical or aesthetic significance. Poppy becomes the emblematic figure of this culture. It is then that the parody becomes more powerful. With its fan base, it can go further in the treatment of the constituent elements of pop culture. Religion, which is an important component of pop culture and is found in lyrics of pop songs like those of Lady Gaga, is indirectly criticized.” Pg 84-85
“Warhol Heritage and Creating a Brand Image Beyond its parody of celebrity and social networks, the work around Poppy is an artistic project inspired by the work of Warhol. First of all, the use of the Internet is a pop medium because of the accessibility it offers. Then, the aesthetics of the videos: the sober background and the attitude of the actor who stares at the camera are part of the continuity of Warhol’s “Screen Tests.” Pg 87
Parody allows their integration into the established narrative. It is then not a simple collection of distinct myths, but a rereading of these myths through a parodic use. Emptied of their original history, myths become part of a brand new story that becomes a complex mythology. These mysterious mythologies are coupled with a parodic use of religious worship. The Poppy Project cleverly mixes the mystery and sacredness of these mythologies with a community that replicates the pop singer’s almost sectarian idolatrous behavior, by the enthusiasm of fans, both in terms of performance and identity.” Pg 90-91
- Hess, Amanda. A Robotic Blur to Stardom: The rise of social media fembots brings fantasy vs. reality to light. New-York Times, February 4th, 2018.
- https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/04/arts/fembotpoppy-lil-miquela-kylie-jenner.html Hutcheon, Linda. The Pol