“She is a high school girl with swooping eyebrows, boy problems, and a webcam willing to listen. The room behind her could be anywhere in America- there’s a pink floral-print bedspread, a half-dozen stuffed animals, and a framed picture of a rose on the wall.”
This description sums up the scene for the youtube production of Lonelygirl15. While many seemed baffled and disgusted that Lonelygirl15 was indeed a fictional plot and not a real life soap opera drama, I was intrigued by its ability to fool the internet world. Creator Mesh Flinders depicted his character Bree (played by an actress), as an innocent teenage girl who confided to the youtube world her arguments with her parents and boy troubles. Many viewers became intrigued by Bree, and wrote to her about their own problems, hoping Bree would guide them through their mishaps and troubles. When the web world found out that Lonelygirl15 was indeed a fictional plot, some were outraged while others did not seem to mind if she was real or fake. After reading The Secret World of Lonelygirl15, I indeed admired Flinders for taking a huge risk and creating these mini-webisodes, and bringing a whole new light to reality on the web. He in fact fooled the world by creating such a brilliant concept, and did so for months. It amazes me how naïve people can be in the sense that they believe that everything they see must be real.
