Author Archives: Logan Austin

About Logan Austin

Peachtree City, Georgia.

Promposals

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Rockville Centre, New York
Performance Date: 4/27/15
Primary Language: English

Informant: The informant in question is a half-Jewish, half-Italian boy from Rockville Centre, New York. He currently is twenty years old and studying screenwriting at USC.

Transcription:

So umm my best friend in the world is this girl named Carrie. She’s a lovely girl and we are the classic love-each-other-to-death-but-will-never-date. And we do, the girl means the world to me and I believe I mean the world to her and we have so much fun but we would murder each other. And we agreed we would be prom dates. My high school is famous for big promposals, not like the internet promposals but everyone does one. And uh this guy we were friends with did this five minute video on the announcements, basically professing his love, using every adjective. I think he sat with a thesaurus and just did a five minute video on her. And I remember Carrie turned to me and said “if anyone did that to me, I would murder him”. So instead of replicating the video, I sat for three weeks in an editing lab and I cut out every time this guy had said the girl’s name and replaced it with “Carrie”, so that it was the exact same video. And I spent weeks, weeks editing this video down and I had her convinced I was gonna ask someone else and she was worried. But she didn’t know I had spent so much time on it, because you know you’ve got to get the audio just right and “Carrie” was a syllable longer than the other girl’s name so it wasn’t exactly right. And I got it on the announcement and she was ready to murder me. I’ve never seen murder in a girl’s face like that. But we went. It was really fun. I’m really proud of that. I remember her clearly saying “if anyone did this to me, I’d murder them” and I used the exact same video. I’m such an ass. I guess that’s the lesson, just be an ass, they’ll still go.
So where did you get this idea to do a big dramatic one?
It was a big deal at our high school, everyone did one. I guess I got the idea the year before. I was asked by a girl to go to her senior prom as friends. And umm, my mom told me I would be a “mensch” if I did it, which is literally “a nice Jewish boy” in Yiddish. And the girl was on the softball team. And I stood outside softball practice waiting with a sign that said “PROM?” and some flowers. Everybody did it, but my mom had planted it in my head that I needed to do it.

Analysis:

This particular story reflects a particular individual’s memorate of a more general folk practice unique to the modern American high school. Much like a wedding proposal, a prom invitation (or “promposal”) is considered a monumental event and as such, a young male doing one is expected to put a degree of care and showmanship into it. To some extent, the “promposal” serves as a mating ritual like any other, something a virile youth does to attract a worthy mate or in this case, prove their status to a chosen mate.

In a very immediate showing of the digital age’s transformation of folk practices, the individual in the story makes his “promposal” by directly modifying one made by another. By editing the other boy’s video, the individual in the story creates a layer of ironic distance between himself and such outward displays of affection. He also directly antagonizes the very person he’s asking, a showing of the close familiarity of him and his prom date.

Looks Aren’t Everything

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Rockville Centre, New York
Performance Date: 4/27/15
Primary Language: English

Informant: The informant in question is a half-Jewish, half-Italian boy from Rockville Centre, New York. He currently is twenty years old and studying screenwriting at USC.

Transcription:
My dad used to say this thing all the time. A mantra really. I’ll never forget what my dad used to say whenever I got him on a good joke he’d say “Son, you’re really funny, but looks aren’t everything”. (laughter) And I think the deeper message was “don’t get cocky”. Which I thing was a big message from my father all along

Why did that stand out to you?

Because it makes me laugh. It was also his way of letting me know I won.

Where do you think he got that?

I think it’s an old Catskills joke. Umm. But my dad always made sure that you were quick-witted – my grandpa was the same way – because otherwise you were going to get lost. He also said “if you want to dish it, you’ve got to be able to take it”. We were always from a young age kinda shooting the shit back and forth. I have a big Italian family and we have these big family dinners. And often, when I watch the Sopranos, I got nostalgic. Because other than the mob part that’s what the family is like. A bunch of people who clearly love each other, but can’t say “I love you” so they just shoot shit. They bust balls. My uncle used to call me the biggest ball-buster from the point where we were allowed to hear the word “ball”. That’s just how we treated each other. And that’s what love is. You love each other so much, and you loved it when you got the nice rib in. I remember my mom, my grandpa used to try to coax it out of us when we were younger and my mom got nervous, like “you can’t say that to your grandfather” and my grandpa used to sit in the corner and snicker and he had these golden teeth. Back when they used to cap it with gold instead of trying make it look like real teeth. And when he smiled it looked like those gold rush cartoons. But when you got it, it was so worth it.

Analysis: This proverb, one primarily passed through families, reflects in particular the familial dynamics that most accompanied its usage. Rather than the more overt displays of affection practiced by some families, the family in question here communicates their strong connections with one another through humor. This adds a layer of competitiveness to the the familial interactions, a sort of game for the family members to all play along in.

The proverb also encourages a degree of modesty, serving thus also a practical concern from a parenting perspective. The saying, in addition to being humorous, encourages valuable life lessons to the child. The usage of humor serves as a spoonful of sugar, helping the medicine of the practical advice go down. This way, a child learns how to behave in a more tactful, humble way while also learning to take part in this sort of “ball-busting” humor.

Transmustache Infection

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Brentwood, CA
Performance Date: 4/22/15
Primary Language: English

Informant: The informant in question was a sophomore screenwriting major at USC. White, female, and a Los Angeles native. She attended the Archer School, an upper-class girl’s private school in Brentwood.

Transcription:

Last year in Reality Starts Here, a class that all of the freshman film students had to take once a week for a lovely learning experience and hear from very important guest speakers. Two people had a conversation about whether or not girls would still look good with a mustache on. And then they photoshopped a picture of a girl in the class with a mustache onto her face. And during lecture everyone started photoshopping mustaches onto each other’s faces. And they called it the “transmustache infection” because we learned about something in class called “transmedia” which was a way of saying of learning ways to tie differing media practices together. Most of which don’t cater to screenwriters. Umm. What else? And then one day a guy came to class with a pack of thirty-something fake mustaches and passed them all around. And we gave one to the teacher and she wore it too. And I took a selfie with two other screenwriters with our mustaches and Instagrammed it. And it was a big deal because it was a cool picture with my cool college friends. (laughing)
Why was that significant to you?
Because it was teambuilding. And it was kind of a shared joke that spread among a lot of people and it was a fun way to get through class.

Analysis: This piece of folklore proves very interesting as something done my members of a particular class in a direct attempt to thwart the class itself. The primary purpose of the “transmustache infection” was to distract the students from the actual course material being presented. Because of the existence of social media, the “transmustache infection” was able to be disseminated with the teacher being none the wiser.

This folklore took a turn in its transformation between weeks from cyberlore to tangible folklore. By making the change into a physical format, the secrecy of the joke was lost. And ironically, what started as a rebellion against the authority of the professor wound up being adopted by the professor herself.

Freshman/Sophomore Screenwriter Party

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Brentwood, CA
Performance Date: 4/22/15
Primary Language: English

Informant: The informant in question was a sophomore screenwriting major at USC. White, female, and a Los Angeles native. She attended the Archer School, an upper-class girl’s private school in Brentwood.

Transcription:
At the beginning of every year the sophomore screenwriting majors throw a party for the freshman to initiate them into the program. This year we had a male stripper. It was a highlight.
What have your experiences been, as a freshman and a sophomore?
I feel like freshman year we all went and the sophomores were like, really drunk already and were all “welcome to screenwriting!” Like it’s an introduction to college and the college lifestyle so like the people in the sophomore class try to make themselves seem as cool as possible every year like we did the same thing where we wanted to seem so fun and so hip and like we’ve bonded so much and we know how to party like college people know how to party and the freshmen are expected to be like “wow you guys are so cool.” And I think we did think they were really cool but I was also like really scared.
Why was that significant to you?
It created unity in the screenwriting program and helped us meet people in the other grades who we wouldn’t have classes with.

Analysis: This party serves as a very familiar, traditional rite of passage to a small, unique demographic. While the idea of a “college party” exists as a very familiar trope to most people of that age group in America, the actual event itself can remain elusive, particularly at the very start of college. For many, this party served as their introduction to a college party and a chance to bond not only with their fellow screenwriters but with the traditional archetype of “college student”.

This event also serves as a sort of initiation rite. The screenwriting program at USC accepts very few students and in many ways acts like a fraternity or sorority. This party serves as a way for existing members of the group to welcome their newer members to their ranks and bond with them in a socially acceptable and enjoyable way.

The Archer Haunted Bathroom

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Brentwood, CA
Performance Date: 4/22/15
Primary Language: English

Informant: The informant in question was a sophomore screenwriting major at USC. White, female, and a Los Angeles native. She attended the Archer School, an upper-class girl’s private school in Brentwood.

Transcription: Oh! Oh my god okay. In my high school we had library sleepovers, and um, it was like where nerds went to party and it was like once a semester and we would all sleep over in the library as it sounds but like we would play Bloody Mary in the bathroom because we had a haunted bathroom. Oh god, we had a haunted bathroom which was like folklore of my high school because nobody wrote it down. Like it wasn’t written down like it was haunted but everyone knew it was haunted but they renovated it after I left. This dingy old bathroom and there was like no reason that it was haunted other than that the school used to be a retirement home and they said it was where they kept the dead bodies was like in our bathroom and supposedly if you said “Bloody Mary” there during the library sleepovers you would see Bloody Mary in the bathroom window – mirrors and in 7th grade somebody saw her but it wasn’t me. Somebody saw.

Why was that memory significant?

Cause it was so scary.

Where did you learn that?

High school, middle school. This girl in my grade who also lied a lot

What does it mean to you?

It was fun, like it was something that we all had in common like we all knew that the bathroom was haunted and that Bloody Mary lived there. But then they got rid of the haunted bathroom because they hate us.

Did you pass that story onto anyone else?

Yeah. You had to like tell everyone that the bathroom was haunted. It was the scariest place on campus.

What was it like? Was it different than any other bathrooms?

Yeah it was the only thing that hadn’t been renovated so it was also a storage unit and it was just like really rickety.

Analysis: This story serves as an indicator of the existence of fear as a form of bond-former in human social practices, particularly the fear of the unknown. As the bathroom in question was the only one not to be in the same modernized style as the rest of the Archer School, it immediately possessed an unsettling aura that the sleek, modernized classrooms and hallways did not. The mythos surrounding the school building’s former purpose served to increase the “spooky” nature of the location.

However, while this fear may have been disconcerting to an individual student of Archer, when it was confronted in a large group setting, it served to draw them all closer together. The bathroom served as a perfect location for the traditional sleepover game Bloody Mary, a familiar story to almost any reader. However, by having a particular location in which to play it, the game felt even more unique to their experience.