Discussion anyone?

Becoming a "blogger" myself has forced me to pay more attention to the wonderful wide world of online authorship, and the latest story/controversy sure is a good one. lonelygirl15 was a screenname attached to a teenage girl named "Bree" who used myspace and youtube to display diary entries predominantly in video form. Though there are tons of similar diaries and videos, Bree's attracted a huge and devoted audience eager to know everything about her. They became skeptical that she was actually a 15-year old from suburban America and started sleuthing. This week the identities of the true creators was revealed to be three twenty-something male filmmakers who hired a 19 year old actress to "play" Bree.

I haven't thought too much about how this fits in with authorship, but it is definitely pertinent, which is why I want discussion. I think it is a very interesting idea that they have used the sphere of personal pages and video diaries to tell their story - their use of the medium is very akin to a television sitcom or reality show. I may be jumping ahead in the syllabus, but I think this use of the medium is fascinating in regards to the ability of authors to disguise their identities when posting, thus in a sense divorving author from text. About the revelation of their own identities, the creators posted on the site:

"Right now, the biggest mystery of Lonelygirl15 is "who is she?" We think this is an oversimplification. Lonelygirl15 is a reflection of everyone. She is no more real or fictitious than the portions of our personalities that we choose to show (or hide) when we interact with the people around us."

Somehow this rings of postmodernist theory and the death of the author to me. The authors themselves dismiss the importance of their identities (and especially the psuedo-author actress playing Bree), asserting that the text can stand alone. Yet viewers were and are insatiable in their quest to know more and more about the true authors. Also, people are really really really pissed - the fans have posted response videos that are hilarious - and its really interesting that they feel so betrayed by a medium that never claimed to have any responsibility.

I would love it if people want to discuss this here a are some links.

lonelygirl15.com
http://www.myspace.com/lonelygurl15
youtube.com

all very interesting