H O O K E D - PostSecret Phenomenon: Secrets on the World Wide Web

PostSecret Phenomenon: Secrets on the World Wide Web

Written by Marissa Chen

We may all be the puppeteers of our own dark deeds - but who better to enact the perils of mastering a secret than a Hitchcock blonde?

In the acclaimed filmmaker’s “The Birds”, the perfectly-coiffed protagonist Melanie Daniels relentlessly pursues a potential love interest to his remote seaside hometown under the pretext of making a pet-shop delivery.

When pressed about the reasons for her visit by intuitive natives (for really, such extremities of passion are only excusable when one is azure-eyed and buxomly), she dodges it with the practiced ease of a coquette, a gesture which typifies the statement – without even having to utter the familiar line – “It’s a secret.”

Of course, we all know what becomes of Meandering Melanie. She is branded the chief culprit when the sleepy little town is held hostage by a legion of murderous birds who are inclined to initiating John Woo car-chases and pecking out the eyes of their victims.

reallifethebirds2

As it turns out, her formerly innocuous expedition has succeeded in unravelling a succession of sordid secrets of her own, as well as of the townspeople. The dogged quest for a single secret triggers an unprecedented mass expose which was clearly (to those who were implicated at least) as appealing as having to stick an arm out of a broken window and having fat witless-looking seagulls nibble away at your fingers, which as we know, happened anyway.

        Let us re-orientate Hitchcock in today’s WWW-driven context. The coastal town of Bodega Bay has become effectively cosmopolitan and Melanie’s Cadillac has been rapidly superseded by a Broadband router. Practically everyone and anyone now enjoys access to this hotbed of dubious deeds – the only difference being its purveyors aren’t perhaps quite so adamant on concealing them anymore.

        We’ve had enough Moral Ed. classes cautioning us against the mercilessly intrusive nature of the Internet, but a band of learned individuals (true revolutionaries if there ever was one) decided to throw in the towel and fling themselves to the birds, as it would.

        “If you can’t beat ‘em” – re-iterating the age-old maxim while ripping off the window shutters and welcoming the pudgy seabirds with open arms – “Join ‘em.”

        One such advocate of this line of thought is the wildly popular website, PostSecret.

        Here, members of the community are encouraged to creatively express their innermost and most clandestine thoughts, from the most trite (“I am a girl who loves a boy. . .”) to the most profound (“I am a boy who loves another boy. . .”) – all under the well-practiced veil of anonymity, which has been accorded to us since the earliest days of dial-up.

        In short, the site is the 21st century’s answer to Aunt Aggy - to be able to get your grievances off your chest and perhaps win a few pats on the back on the way (depending on how “artistic” your entry is) without having to subject yourself to the blushing shame, which invariably follows a confession.

        Even for those who have not summoned the courage to expound on their secrets are welcome to visit the site and take comfort in the knowledge that they do not suffer alone in their respective subsidiaries of teen angst.

        If nothing else, PostSecret serves up as a moderate dose of humour that will go down nicely with your daily slice of Mr. Brown – the community offers a few quirky posts daily which deserve commendation from both secret-sympathizers and bored inquisitives alike.

Of course, this cute oddball support group appears to harbour some dirty little secrets of its own. Like most modern enterprises, it has now succeeded in turning human emotions into commercial fodder – the website soon spawned two collectible coffee-table books as well as a spot on MTV.

(This may hardly seem impressive, seeing as how MTV doesn’t even play much music these days, but do let us remember that the single life-defining moment for most pre-pubescent teens is getting to see your handmade card on an All-American Rejects video.)

        Also, anyone who owns or who has ever owned a Blog will concur that the fine line between good (and for the most part) clean fun and ineffectual nosiness is a difficult one to negotiate. Blog voyeurism is a guilty pleasure that most of us will only be all-too-familiar with – just what is it about excavating the details of someone’s life that makes us all tick?

        Case in point – SGsecrets.

        Singapore’s independent take on the PostSecret site, while for most part, lacklustre, is reciprocated with a lot more narrow-minded criticism, profanity, and the perennially creative, “You suck!” in comparison to the original community.

        We have not only presumptuously undertaken the right to probe into someone’s personal life, but in fact feel compelled to comment and moralize on his or her actions. It’s all well and good if we are to use this as a springboard for leading a life less ordinary and to veer away precisely from such disagreeable behaviour, but lambasting a stranger out of sheer spite and too much time on your hands is downright illogical.

        Keep the animosity in check and make your opinions heard on more pressing matters, like the ~~idiotic~~ troublesome ritual of having to fumble with our belongings and finally draw out our matriculation card with shaking hands before entering the library. (Seriously, why isn’t anyone speaking up about this?)

        It is of course, easy to defensively posit that these secret-sharers want to have their work exhibited to all, but such a statement reduces us to merely passive recipients of (generally useless) information.

        More often than not, people religiously devour the Blogs of those whom they emulate and wish to copy (consciously or otherwise, although most would hastily attribute it to the latter when confronted), adopting this information as a basis around which they would fashion their own identities.

        While this is more or less the norm for impressionable fifteen-year-olds, the fact that “I read it on her Blog!” remains one of the most proffered excuses for dishing the dirt on one of your tutorial mates, is a cause for some concern.

        Dig deep and examine the validity of your own Blog-snooping agenda – and relinquish that habit pronto. Remember that seasoned Bloggers don't need a K9 unit sniff out a copycat. If Courtney Love’s Chanel Couture shake-up is of any indication, feeble counterfeits can only go so far before they are uncovered and denounced. And, true, manning the rumour-mill by filching for personal information from another person's Blog may seem like the ultimate ticket to winning friends and influencing people - but not before the gossip doubles back to bite you in the bum.

        In an Orwellian age where your every move is subject to mutual scrutiny, it pays to hold out - your secret may be the only thing you can call your own these days. hooked

Anything other than constructive criticism raised against this article – and everything else in this magazine for that matter – will merely be an ironic reinforcement of the writer’s premise. For those who aren’t as resistant to cowardice, start small. Allow yourself an hour of facile Blog-surfing each time you successfully avoid using the phrase, “You suck.”

Photos courtesy of:
www.dvduell.de
www.arnadel.no
PostSecret
SGSecrets

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