Epilogue

Saturday, May 22, 2010



Epilogue

Looking back on what made the BoxxyGate affair as big as it was, one can see an emerging pattern in Internet phenomena. Boxxy was by no means the first or last of her kind, as young girls in the past have become the target of Anonymous' intense obsession. Such fascination would often lead to disturbing consequences for many of the girls involved.

There are six cases in point to illustrate such a pattern of Anonymous' fixations: Cracky-Chan, Magibon, former MySpace model Zoe Kimball, Boxxy, Amber Lamps, and the most recent contender for the throne of /b/, Tabby. The question which must be asked is why and how do these girls shoot to such prominence on the Internet, often to the point that their personal lives are invaded? The common denominators must be observed carefully.

All of the aforementioned subjects are very attractive, if not beautiful, young women. Since time immemorial, beauty has been a much sought after commodity by people all over the world. While it is often said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, most people would agree that all six subjects are aesthetically pleasing to the eye. For instance, researchers have found that good-looking students get higher grades from their teachers than students with a more ordinary appearance.

How much money a person earns may also be influenced by physical beauty. One study found that people low in physical attractiveness earns five to ten percent less than more ordinary-looking people, who in turn earn three to eight percent less than those who are considered good-looking.

If we take these statistics into consideration, it can be said that the physical attractiveness of the six subjects played a sizable role in capturing the attention of Internet users around the globe. People naturally respond better to those who are beautiful, so when images of Cracky-Chan, Magibon, Zoe, Amber, Boxxy, and Tabby ended up on sites with user-generated content like 4chan and YouTube, the occupants of those sites naturally became interested in who those characters were.

A mixture of randomness coupled with unique artistic expression made all of the said subjects stand out from everyone else. Internet 2.0 websites are known for being bottomless wells for creating some of the most enduring, endearing memes and personalities on the Internet. A seemingly perpetual cycle has been observed in the functioning of these sites where they would start off with something new, creative, and random. This new idea then becomes popular, but then it winds down to becoming repetitive and bland, with many feeling a sense of being stifled. Then, something new, original, and with a level of randomness goes completely against the grain of the previous flow. Once the novel entity emerges, it totally offsets the current, creating a new one, only to repeat the same process again.

When each of the six subjects emerged onto the Internet, it was during that stage of the cycle wherein previous phenomena had started to become bland and uninspiring. Out of this virtual tide, these girls made unexpected appearances. What they did or didn't do established new channels of thought and perspective.


Cracky-Chan

Cracky-Chan posted on /b/ at a time before cam-whoring properly took off. As a result, many became obsessed with her. Part of the reason for the longevity and popularity of Cracky-Chan is that she took many well-composed artistic photos, often self-portraits, then uploaded them onto various online communities, such as LiveJournal. These photos were inevitably found and shared by her fans, allegedly through dubious means, such as password hacking, leading to a steady drip of content. She, like Boxxy, was also a sort of taboo, with the moderation crackdown. She was forbidden, and this only made people more interested. This was before anyone really knew what /b/ was capable of, as well as its true nature.


Magibon

Magibon posted her material on YouTube when the site was still relatively new, in July 2006. Unlike the usual expectation on YouTube that posters should actually do something in their videos, Magibon did absolutely nothing but stare silently into the camera. Magibon personified the silent but beautiful stranger archetype. Further stoking the intrigue were her large eyes that seemed to touch one's consciousness, as well as providing a glimpse into her own, which revealed a sense of innocence.


Zoe Kimball

Zoe Kimball uploaded many videos of herself wearing chav clothing and flashing gangster signs while her friends shouted, "What up, nigga?" This random act of potential racial insensitivity was forgiven by /b/ because of her perceived overwhelming cuteness.


Amber Lamps

Amber Lamps, like Magibon, personifies the silent but beautiful archetype. What gained her the attention of the Internet at large was the fact that while the infamous AC transit bus fight was going on and everyone was in a frenzy, she sat there completely unfazed and seemingly oblivious to the events occurring in front of her. Also drawing attention was her unusual hipster clothing consisting of an aquamarine tunic top, vivid purple leggings, unassuming shoulder bag, and enormous silver headphones.


Boxxy

Boxxy, as discussed in previous entries, made all of her videos in the dark, which had the effect of keeping focus only on her face and eyes in particular. Her three videos don't tell any real story. They were also not intended for such a wide audience. The two original videos that propelled her to Internet stardom were addressed to a few specific people. Considering the intentionally confusing way that Boxxy babbles, we may then finally reach the very obvious conclusion that her success is related to her machine gun of expressions, in constant and very quick succession.


Tabby

Tabby's success and popularity could be owed primarily to the fact that many saw her as a replacement for Boxxy, after the latter vanished from the Internet. She was in the right place at the right time in that after she posted her first video, it came to the attention of /b/ on September 24th 2009 after new Boxxy material had ceased. Tabby was quickly named the new queen of /b/, while Boxxy fan boys were upset by the new declaration. Another online civil war threatened to occur.

Interest in the said subjects skyrocketed because of the lack of new material or no response to the fans. It requires a basic understanding of the economic model of supply and demand to see why interest continues to persist in these six girls.

Demand refers to how much of a product or service is desired by consumers. The quantity of demand is the amount of product that people are willing to purchase at a certain price. Supply represents how much the market can offer. The quantity supplied refers to the amount of a certain good that producers are willing to supply when receiving a certain price.

There was a high demand for more material of these girls, but the supply is often low, leading to increased fascination. This is often the result of the girls being scared off the Internet and into hiding from stalkers, threats, or because they simply do not wish to embrace any stardom on the Internet. Magibon is a notable exception out of the six. She quickly embraced her popularity and fandom. She continues to regularly upload new videos.

When Tabby disappeared for several months at the behest of her mother and the police after receiving threats of rape and death, obsession grew to higher levels. Once she returned with MySpace and Twitter accounts, as well as more videos, interest seemed to decrease. Her Internet sensation is now at a point that allows her to manage her online affairs.

Once the personal information of Cracky-Chan, Zoe, and Boxxy was discovered, all three had fled from the Internet. They ceased to release anymore photos or videos of themselves. Their respective phenomena only grew, leading to further interest and curiosity.

This type of episode has been likened by some to be identical to that of the Garbo Effect, which refers to the event of curiosity brewing once a famous person wants to keep his or her life private. Greta Garbo was mistakenly quoted as having said, "I want to be alone." Later, she clarified that what she had actually said was, "I want to be left alone." Clearly, the second quote means that she wanted to be left alone to enjoy her private life, not that she didn't want anyone around herself.

Greta was thought to be a very mysterious person. She didn't give any interviews, she didn't go out to the red carpet premiers of any of her films, and she wasn't seen in public very often. Back then, studios encouraged their stars being seen and photographed in public as often as possible, since famous actors and actresses made for big money at the box office.

Greta refused to participate in such behavior, preferring to keep her private life to herself. Because of that, people had an even greater desire to know what she did behind closed doors. There was much speculation about her, none of which could be confirmed or denied, since she never spoke about it. Long before the days of insane paparazzi, she was stalked by people with cameras. A similar phenomenon was observed in the tragic case of Diana, princess of Wales. The more that Diana ran and hid, the more the paparazzi wanted more pictures and stories of her.

In life, there will always be people who either like or hate you. On the Internet, nothing is sacred. Sometimes, both sides could wind up destroying you. Anonymous showed the true extent of their power and capabilities in hacking and spreading Boxxy's personal information, as they did with the other girls before and after her, save for Amber Lamps.

Thus, it is vital that you be careful with what you post on the websites of Internet 2.0. Think twice about who you add or accept on FaceBook or MySpace, especially if you barely know someone. Make sure that absolutely nobody could ever possibly guess your passwords, save for yourself. Think before sharing any personal information with people on chat rooms, or even putting up seemingly harmless bits of information on any online profiles of yours.

Every single thing that you post leaves a trail of data. Eventually, a profile of yourself can be built up for the wrong hands to utilize. The BoxxyGate chapters make one truly wonder about what freedom really exists for people on the Internet. Anything that you do can be replicated, altered, and propagated infinitely, such that you can rapidly lose any semblance of further control over your online affairs.

By Anonymous

Boxxy is a teenage girl whose YouTube videos caused an Internet sensation in early January 2009. This website chronicles her mysterious tale.