Here, for ICAM 130, I am using the website chatroulette to experience 10 webcam encounters that are at least one minute long. I will not next anyone unless they get overtly sexual or offensive.
Documented below are the encounters I faced. I had 11 encounters, specifically because the video of my tenth encounter experienced technical errors.
Monday, October 4, 2010
chatroulette encounter 11
chatroulette: encounter 11 from Leisa Sutton on Vimeo.
I chatted with a guy from South Carolina, who seemed to be talking to someone else while chatting with me. He asked for my name, and he said his name was Drew. We talked about how he was from the South, and how he enjoyed drinking Sweet Tea. However, he was very distracted, and eventually forgot that he was on Chatroulette. I was not very interested in this encounter, and I didn't really enjoy it. I would have to attribute it to the point that Cheryl Sourkes makes: the more real the image gets, the less there is to see. This image was very boring, due to the fact that he was just performing his day to day life, and I was not addressed as the viewer.
chatroulette encounter 10
I chatted with a man who seemed to be between 50-60 years of age, sitting in an office of some sort. He was by far the oldest man I have seen or chatted with. He deducted that I was in college, and it seemed as if he wanted to figure out how old I really was. I did not feel comfortable talking to him, due to the age difference. Awkward feelings like this and others I had during my encounters make me thankful that I will not be using Chatroulette anymore. However, this uncomfortability seems to be what Marc Lafia tried to reach during his piece: where one is being moved beyond their comfort zone, taking risk, reaching out, about the desire to 'see' beyond one's confines, the desire to communicate. I feel like I have a little more insight now, living in this space of chatroulette, of others.
chatroulette encounter 9
chatroulette: encounter 9 from Leisa Sutton on Vimeo.
I encountered a man that was using a monster puppet. I was amused, and by far it was the most humorous of circumstances that I have experienced on Chatroulette. When experiencing this, I was immediately taken back to Cheryl Sourkes essay, understanding how the term performativity is used to describe the material presence of abstract discourses. I don't know what he is trying to achieve with this character, or if he is trying to compensate for his identity in day to day life, but it interests me. I wish we could have talked longer because of this. I would think Judith Butler would explain it in a different way, saying that "a subject is never performing his or herself, but rather enacting certain discourses.” This monster could be a discourse of his day to day life.
chatroulette encounter 8
chatroulette: encounter 8 from Leisa Sutton on Vimeo.
I felt truly uncomfortable in this encounter. I chatted with an 18 year old guy from New Jersey, who looked dazed and confused. I then found out that he was smoking weed, explaining why blasting music was filling my ears. He didn't seem very interested at all. I do not think in everyday circumstances I would ever encounter a situation like this, or put myself in a situation like this. Here, I am doing what Marc Lafia did: bringing face to face people who would in no other circumstance be in the same room.
chatroulette encounter 7
chatroulette: encounter 7 from Leisa Sutton on Vimeo.
I talked to a 24 year old man from France. He seemed nice, but it turned me off when I realized that he was smoking. I guess it is normal, doing everyday things in front of the webcam, but I don't really appreciate that act. He seemed interested in what I had to say, but at times I had a feeling that he just wanted to see me naked like the rest of them. He asked to see my legs, and I refused. He didn't seem phased by it, but I could tell his agenda was not so innocent. The spectacle of my body again is in play here, I can feel it.
chatroulette encounter 6
chatroulette: encounter 6 from Leisa Sutton on Vimeo
I talked with another guy from Germany. He seemed to be like the rest at first, asking where I was from and the like. He gave me time to respond, seemed happy with my responses, and interested in the conversation. However, the conversation took a turn for the uncomfortable when he asked me “how many guys have asked to see your boobs?” I feel like he truly wanted to ask that question to me, but was uncomfortable actually coming out and saying it directly. I feel like he was drawn into the site due to the pure spectacle of naked women, but he is not sure how much power he has over the situation. Many people on Chatroulette are blatant, but he is one of the few who is not.
chatroulette encounter 5
chatroulette: encounter 5 from Leisa Sutton on Vimeo.
I talked with a guy from Colorado who was also a college student. He was surprisingly nice and did not make any sexual advances of any sort. I wish more people could be like him on Chatroulette. It did not feel like he had an agenda, or a persona. Instead, he was himself, and he asked me about myself, seeming truly interested in what I had to say. It was the longest encounter that I have experienced so far in this journey. However, I feel like even the times when I talked to people for a minute, I still learned a lot about them. Living in the cinema, like Marc Lafia writes, is very telling.
chatroulette encounter 4
chatroulette: encounter 4 from Leisa Sutton on Vimeo.
I met this man, from maybe a cold country, that was self deprecating. I know on the internet you can be whoever you want to be, but like Cheryl Sourkes states in her essay on webcams, I feel that the true identities of people is magnified when put in from of a webcam, like a homecammer. Instead of creating a persona, this man instead decides to show himself how he usually is, and seems to act and talk truthfully to me. I find that this honesty is one of the best things about Chatroulette.
chatroulette encounter 3
chatroulette: encounter 3 from Leisa Sutton on Vimeo.
I talked with a guy from North Carolina who was in the marines. That intrigued me, and I started asking him questions about how long he had been enlisted for. He said he was gonna be out soon, after 4 years in it. I wanted to hear more about that, but he decided to next me. I wish he would have given me a chance. This instance takes me back to the work of Marc Lafia, where he comments that Chatroulette is a way for people to be seen. In the marines, I feel like this guy may not have felt seen or in touch with the rest of the world. Chatroulette may work as an outlet for him, letting him express his thoughts to the rest of the world.
chatroulette encounter 2
chatroulette: encounter 2 from Leisa Sutton on Vimeo.
The guy I was matched up with was from Germany. It was almost midnight for him, so I wonder what he was up to. After I asked him what he was doing, he said dunno and “nexted” me. I feel like I wasn't given a chance to talk, with him judging me after a minute of interaction. I wish I could have talked longer, even for a minute to find out what kind of person he was and what his life was like in Germany. This longing to find out more helps me understand Marc Lafia when he says that filmmakers and photographers brought to us worlds only they could access, and with this webcam experience, I want to discover the lives and worlds of what the person on the other side of the screen can access.
chatroulette encounter 1
chatroulette: encounter 1 from Leisa Sutton on Vimeo.
The guy I was matched up with on Chatroulette was from Pennsylvania. He seemed not as crazy or curious as the other people I have seen so far in the experiences I have had with the website. I felt apprehension going into the pairing, but surprisingly talking to him I did not feel scared at all. It may be because I was typing to him, or the fact that he was not openly displaying anything sexual like all the men out there. However, when he commented that I was pretty, I didn't acknowledge that, so he seemed to ignore what I was saying and proceed to end the conversation, “nexting” me. I have a feeling he was just looking for a girl to see naked, like the rest of the guys on the website. Chatroulette seems like it has been transformed into something past mediation, a place of pure spectacle like Marc Lafia mentions. This spectacle, I believe at this moment is women flashing for the camera.
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