Ledger

What would you say if you saw

people suddenly start clapping on

the street for no good reason?

Probably that they are crazy. But

it won’t come to your mind that

these eccentrics have a special

name- flashmobbers.

Flashmob is a phenomenon

of the big city. It’s an attempt

to bring a new meaning to the

word ‘crowd’ and experience new

feelings. Flashmob is an action

when a number of people arrange

to come at a certain time and

place and do the same action all

together. For example, they start

singing, waving or clapping.

The founder of this subculture

is believed to be some New

Yorker named Bill. Once he

managed to gather nearly 150

people in Manhattan. They all

entered a shop and asked the

shop assistants to get them a

"love-carpet for the out-of-town

commune" at the price of 10

saw

on

reason?

But

that

special

phenomenon

attempt

the

new

action

arrange

and

all

start

subculture

New

he

150

all

the

a

town

10

grand. As some say, after six or

seven flashmobs, Bill quit the

group. However, this movement

didn’t vanish. The idea spread all

over the world. And in 2003 the

flashmob subculture ‘infected’

the Russian youngsters.

To become a flashmobber all

you have to do is go to the official

web-site and find out what the

coming initiatives are. You don’t

even need to register. Taking

part in a flashmob scenario

automatically makes you a

participant of this subculture.

But sometimes there are special

scenarios that you should sign

up for.

The flashmob is friendly to the

newcomers. Anyone can invent

a scenario for a mob-action and

post it at the web-site forum.

Then the mobber-community

votes for this script and chooses

what the next flashmob will be.

And those who have registered

at the web-site receive an e-mail

alert containing information about

the chosen mobs.

The difference between a

"good" and a "bad" scenario is

very clear. You should always

keep in mind that the mob effect

depends on the place where it

is held and on the number of

participants.

For instance, if a scenario

involves 100 people you can’t

propose a narrow street. There

just won’t be enough space for

the crowd and the mob won’t

attract much passer-biers. So,

the author should reconsider his

script and find out whether it is

practicable.

Some may say that flashmob

is a useless thing to do. What’s

the point in pretending you are

a freak? However, mobbers

wouldn’t agree with this. They

see some special sense in their

actions. Flashmob makes you

feel like you are somewhere inbetween

a dream and reality.

And being on the edge is an

exciting feeling. It gives you

on adrenaline rush that you have

never experienced.

The Russian flashmob

movement is nearly 3 years old.

There are 2 sites that are active

in this field and provide different

scenarios: fmob.ru and flashmob.

ru. However, the first site is now

under reconstruction.

Flashmob has attracted

many people of various ages

and occupations. But its main

participants are students between

17 and 30. Many of them joined

the subculture for different

reasons.

Iliya, for example, who is a

student of the Moscow Orthodox

Saint-Tikhonov University,

found the information about the

movement on the Internet and

decided to take part. ‘It’s always

interesting to try something new.

That’s why I got obsessed by it’,

he says. Iliya is an experienced

mobber since the time flash mob

appeared in Russia. He has also

been one of the ‘script-writers’

and has submitted several

scenarios. Now the Moscow community

has taken a break. The last

flashmob was held in August.

But Iliya says that in December

this year they are planning a mob,

but still haven’t chosen a script.

Most of the scenarios of the

Russian flash mob community

are very cheerful and optimistic.

The last mob was named

"A Smile". Participants should

"bring their smiles": drawn on

a cardboard, embroidered on

clothes, printed on sheets of

paper. Another interesting event

was the hugging-mob: folks came

to a crowded street and started

hugging each other. Some of

them brought slogans saying

"Free hugs", "Hug me" and so

on.

In fact, flash mob is a way

of overcoming timidity and

boundaries between young

people. While some youngsters

are trying to express themselves

in violence and aggressiveness,

flash mobbers have a buoyant

worldview.