When We're Alone, and Together, At Home

The new crop of online interactive entertainment is raw, real, and refreshing.

#Instagramlive is emerging as a main media source in a post #Kardashian world. Since the #Covid19 shutdowns, actors and #celebrities began improvising their acts online with great success. Audiences have welcomed the freshness of these formats. Gone are the slick, scripted, precisely timed segments for a more relaxed, human, and dare I say vulnerable exchange with direct audience interaction. 

Take Jimmy Fallon, for example. Since posting his new show alone out of his home in the Hamptons, outside NY, the low-res mobile camera filming by his wife, and constant interruptions by his children, he has become an endearing hero to fans, old and new. Viewer JJ Bittenbinder commented "Jimmy needs to do shows without playing to an audience. he's much more genuine." Another, pteromalid, commented"

These "At Home Editions" are special. I don't want them to end when this quarantine is over.

Chris Martin’s instagram-live series, "Together at home concerts" illustrate this beautifully. Seated at his piano bench bundled in a thick sweater and knitted cap he sings in a raspy early morning voice, often forgetting the lyrics or stumbling on piano keys as streamers sent their comments for him to see live. The audience was ecstatic. He then “tagged” John Legend who performed the following day while wife Chrissy Teigen sat in a towel on the piano with a vanishing tankard of wine as we joined them for an intimate concert. At Home, Together. 

It is this access and interactivity that will stay with us for future programming. Since the rise of #billieeilish, whose empowered presence has delivered a clear counterpoint to the faux-life pantomime of #realitytv stars from #TheBachelor to the #Kardashians and even #LadyGaga. 

It’s not like the signs weren’t there already. From the failed #Pepsi revolution featuring Kendall Jenner, we knew that #GenZ wasn’t ready to accept whatever corporate America decided what was next. Body-positive stars like #Lizzo, once an unimaginable heroine, is leading the rebellion against female objectification. Now, Billie Eilish’s baggy outfits ruled stages where heretofore see-through gowns studded only by a shimmer of tiny beads against flesh once reigned.

Gen Z Artist Billie Eilish

When it comes to depth, we would do well to also recall that two of our greatest environmental and social activists - Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai - are both Gen Z.

So as we scramble to emerge from this new era of isolation that connection isn’t merely physical. Over-polished productions erase humanity. These new media celebrate it.

It’s time to get real.  

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Catherine D. Henry heads Palpable Media a consulting firm that bridges the gap between enterprise and XR technologies. She leads the NYC Tech creatives collaborative and specializes in XR for interactive media and entertainment.