It’s a big joke (hahaha) that “None of us is as stupid as all of us.” The supporting concepts and labels abound. GroupThink. Peer Pressure. Mob Rule. Lemmings. Sheep. Teeny Boppers. Fascists. If all your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you do it too? Deservedly or not, people in large groups get a bad rap.

As in all things Millennial, our generation is re-defining this gem of conventional wisdom.

What if our powers combined yield better, faster, smarter, more valuable results?

Well, here you are on WTF?! – the world’s first crowd-sourced relationship blog (so Mashable tells us!) Come on, now, our Millennial logic goes. Who wants to read about the 10 things you should change about yourself to get a man? Or the 1,000 ways you can tell he’s just not that into you? WTF? So much better to Ask Jess, or post a non-date, or sound off with a WTF?! moment – and get a variety of thoughts and feedback from folks in the same boat as you. Here in this virtual space, we can choose to be totally anonymous if we want (except Becky!), unlike that Self-Help Section at your local Barnes & Noble. And the results of this crowd-sourced-creativity? Pretty damn exciting, insightful, inciting, profound, smart, hard-hitting, savvy and thoughtful, if we do say so ourselves.

So if this new GroupWisdom works for f*cked up modern romance – why not film?

Tonight, premiering on VOD, is the world’s first crowd-sourced movie (you heard it here first!). 11/4/08 is a documentary curated and edited by filmmaker Jeff Deutchman. In the run-up to election night 2008, Jeff observed that all the talking heads kept saying what a historical night 11/4/08 would be – regardless of the outcome of the election.

So Jeff thought to himself – as he puts it in the film – I was curious to see what history looks like.

When Herodotus, back in the day, got this same hankering, he had to travel the known world to gather people’s stories and observe first-hand WTF was going on (guess you could say we took a page from his book for the WTF?! tour!). Jeff, on the other hand, sent an email. To all of his friends and contacts. Encouraging them to take video footage of election night – wherever in the world they happened to be. And then send it to him.

And so 11/4/08 – the day and night – was immortalized. And a unique political documentary was born.

We got to see the film last night at a screening hosted by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. It was a great, thought-provoking experience (we want to be in Jeff’s gaggle!) The impact of these varied snapshots of history is profound.

Of course, we know the outcome of that election. We certainly remember where we were that night!

Most of Deutchman’s contributors were Obama supporters (as 60% of young voters were), so the film is very much focused on Obama’s victorious insurgent movement. There’s nothing inherently surprising about what Deutchman has compiled. It’s explicitly NOT the goal of the film to issue grand statements or judgments about the politics of that night, or re-hash the triumphs of the Obama team’s vision and strategy. The film – in its conception and execution – is about what people – at large – can accomplish and experience together.

Watching this multitude of perspectives – from Chicago, to Alaska, to New Orleans, to Berlin, to Abu Dhabi – is viscerally shocking. Regardless of where you stood on the politics, 11/4/08 was a shared cultural experience like practically no other. Watching the film, you re-live and reflect on that day when we – as in people of the world – were laughing and crying for our own unique and deeply personal reasons, but nonetheless all together, at once. Something that is inherently fragmented – ie, several dozen reams of haphazard personal footage – can transcend its origins when put together, and watched together. As if we couldn’t say this word enough – it all comes together.

The American election captured the attention of the world, and now that night has been captured on film. No one perspective could ever be as complex and thought-provoking as all these many views and voices. That we each experience in our unique, personal way but then can share with others.

And the  best part?

The movie isn’t even finished! Jeff continues to collect footage and share it. You can visit the site – http://11-4-08.com – to watch and participate.

So where were YOU on 11/4/08? Oh yeah? Well, if you’ve got any footage – send it Jeff’s way. In return, he can tell you his take on what that text message means, or whether that networking-drinks-turned-bonding-session was actually a date or not.

See – we toldja! If we all act with conviction, compassion, inspiration and commitment (as much as we possibly can), then sometimes – in life as in love – the whole can equal more than the sum of its parts.

Want to watch? Check out 11/4/08 – HERE.

Oct 22, 2010

0 F-YEAH! F-YEAH!

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