{"id":5097,"date":"2013-04-23T11:08:18","date_gmt":"2013-04-23T03:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=5097"},"modified":"2022-11-17T14:56:03","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T06:56:03","slug":"flash-mob","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2013\/04\/flash-mob\/","title":{"rendered":"Flash Mob Takes off in Hong Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"

The rising popularity of the flash mob community in the city<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Frances Sit<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was an ordinary Saturday afternoon in Chater Garden with people enjoying the sunshine when a raging war suddenly began. Hundreds of people, some in pyjamas and fancy dress descended into the park and started beating each other senselessly – with pillows. As the cotton filling and feathers flew around and fell down like snow, anyone observing the scene would have wondered what on earth was going on.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the world of the flash mob, a world of absurdity, spontaneity and surprise.\u00a0 A flash mob is an inexplicable group of people who assemble in a public place, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time and then quickly disperse afterwards, leaving the place as if nothing has happened. The act itself can range from dancing, music-playing and singing to meditating, planking (lying face down in an unusual place), or simply freezing on the streets. Either way, flash mobs usually manage to draw the attention of others.<\/p>\n

This unusual kind of meeting was first created and organized in 2003 by Bill Wasik, a senior editor of Harper’s Magazine<\/em>. The first successful flash mob was held in June, 2003 at Macy’s department store in Manhattan, where 100 people converged around a carpet and informed the shop assistants they were all looking for a \u201clove rug\u201d. Wasik invented the activity as a social commentary and experiment on hipsters, educated young urbanites who see themselves as \u201calternative\u201d but who lack the self-awareness to see that they are conforming to another set of tastes and fads. It was, Wasik wrote, \u201can empty meditation on emptiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what had started out as joke to highlight the cultural atmosphere of conformity has taken on a life of its own and is now a worldwide phenomenon used to highlight diversity and bring together people for social and political causes.<\/p>\n

Flash mobs first appeared in Hong Kong in 2003, but the concept did not take off until a large-scale flash mob of people dancing \u201cBeat It\u201d took place in Mong Kok in 2009 after the sudden death of pop star Michael Jackson. Since then, there have been occasional flash mob events in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

The biggest of these was the International Pillow Fight Day event, which has been an annual event since 2011. Each one attracts an average of over 300 flash mobbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason to do it is for no reason,\u201d says unofficial ringmaster Tom Grundy. \u201cYou get permission to be a kid again. To act silly. To be naughty and ridiculous. To do something really unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Without any charity or corporate involvement behind it, the English teacher and blogger thinks the completely mindless and fun event is a rare opportunity for Hong Kong people to get together. \u201cThe only other time really when some strangers get together in large groups like that is at a protest. It is not positive right?\u201d<\/p>\n

However, organising such a large-scale open event is hard work. It can take anything between a month and half a year to arrange a flash mob. But while Grundy finds the process stressful, he also finds it rewarding, \u201cSeeing some of the photos, with some people\u2019s faces, especially the kids. That made it all worth it,\u201d Grundy says.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s flash mobs are the result of modern telecommunications, social media and the power of the internet. \u201cIt\u2019s friends inviting friends and it\u2019s snowballing online with social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with the help of social media, there is no guarantee a flash mob will go viral. The International No Pants Subway Ride was first held in Hong Kong earlier this year, and although it was widely publicised on the internet, only 12 people showed up, whereas hundreds turned up for the same event in the United States. \u201cThere is nothing more depressing than having only 10 or 20 people turn up at a flash mob,\u201d Grundy says. \u201cI think you need a tipping point, a threshold for the flash mob to be successful\u2026Otherwise, flash mobs can be embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sopee \u201cSo Ling\u201d Siviwimon, a form four student at a local art school, also organised a series of flash mobs last year \u2013 a costumed \u201cParty Rock Anthem\u201d dance flash mob inspired by American dance music duo LMFAO, a dance flash mob of South Korean singer Psy\u2019s \u201cGangnam Style\u201d and a freeze mob in various pedestrian zones and malls around Hong Kong. She spread the word mainly through a popular online forum and concludes that organising a flash mob is a combination of stress, hard work and deep commitment.<\/p>\n

So Ling recalls how hard it was to organise a \u201cspontaneous\u201d flash mob, handling logistical problems involving nearly 200 participants while dealing with endless school work. She once sacrificed three days\u2019 sleep to organise a mob event. \u201cI had to do a lot of follow-ups on my own. Assembling the people, set-ups, planning. Everything had to be done on my own,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There were also unexpected risks. So Ling recalls a particularly scary experience at the \u201cGangnam Style\u201d event at Langham Place, Mong Kok, in October last year. \u201cWhen we were doing our dance, the security staff rushed out, told us to turn off our boom box and shooed us away. After we finished the dance, the staff chased us down with sticks in their hands!\u201d<\/p>\n

Apart from her own passion for participating in flash mobs, So Ling is driven to organise events because she wants to do something for the community. She would like to bring happiness to the city through flash mobs, and to jolt people out of the single-minded pursuit of wealth and fortune.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw many foreigners organising interesting events in Hong Kong, yet Hong Kong people never noticed or cared,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t want the city to be so boring, and everyone concentrating only on making money. There are a lot of people, a lot of things that are worth our appreciation in Hong Kong\u2026 Hong Kong can be a diversified place.\u201d<\/p>\n

For people with specific goals in mind, flash mobs are a wonderful medium to spread messages. Around the world, flash mobs have been held to raise awareness on issues ranging from bullying to shark-fin consumption.<\/p>\n

Lisa Pearl, a health coach, co-organised a dance flash mob on Valentine\u2019s Day this year with Jennifer Carven McLennan in response to One Billion Rising, a global campaign to raise awareness of violence against women and girls. She believes flash mobs are a highly visible and contagious way to engage people in important issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to come together in solidarity with the purpose and the energy to shape the world and consciousness,\u201d Pearl says. \u201cDancing insists that you take up space. It is something you can do together. The dancing is fun and lively and energetic but it\u2019s also purposeful.\u201d<\/p>\n

A flash mob is not just about a specific act or dance. Rey Asis, who also organised a One Billion Rising dance mob for Hong Kong migrants in February, regards it as a whole package – a combination of the dance, the outfits, the songs, the movements and most importantly the message.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to wear something that is kind of unusual but at the same time not so distracting for the audience\u2026Whenever we do flash mobs, we think about the people who are watching us or people who are joining us,\u201d Asis explains. \u201cThe message should not be lost in the whole thing. The whole package should convey that message.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, for some, the biggest reward of flash mobs is being a part of a community. Jeffrey Tam is a member of HK Do What.com and the person in charge of the first-ever MP3 experimental flash mob held in Hong Kong, in which people played a pre-downloaded MP3 soundtrack at the Mong Kok pedestrian zone at 3.00 p.m. on March 3 and followed performance instructions on the soundtrack. Tam says one of the aims of the event was to show city dwellers that they are connected with other people by asking them to do things they would not normally do, like high-fiving other participants or passers-by.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want Hong Kong people to change their living styles; to be not so monotonous. We want Hong Kong people to step out of their comfort zones. We want people to start experiencing their life, to feel the connection between people in this city, to feel that we are not separate individuals in a city, but are more or less connected,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

What had started out as an experiment to mock the pretentiousness of New York hipsters has morphed into something else. Flash mobs transcend many different and separate communities. Whether you are a participant or a member of the audience, you feel a sense of belonging to the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think about money all the time, when you only think about yourself, that can be very individualistic or selfish,\u201d says Asis. \u201cBut when you are with a group of people, you become part of a community. And you feel that there is more to life than you.”<\/p>\n

Edited by Jennifer Lam<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From a seemingly spontaneous mass performance of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” in Mong Kok, to an apparently aimless pillow fight in Central, to a mass gathering to call for the elimination of violence against women – flash mobs have become increasingly popular in Hong Kong. Varsity finds out how something that started as a sarcastic commentary on urban hipsters turned into a way to connect people and raise social awareness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1983,836,1],"tags":[67,33,40],"class_list":["post-5097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue-128","category-lifestyle","category-uncategorized","tag-community","tag-culture","tag-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5097"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11335,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5097\/revisions\/11335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}