The Learned Fangirl

So I’ve been watching the “2 Girls 1 Cup” phenomenon on You Tube and it’s been cracking me up while simultaneously grossing me out by proxy (I have not seen the original video, don’t plan to, and don’t suggest that you do it either, unless you have a strong stomach)

For those that don’t know, “2 Girls 1 Cup” is a website that features about 40 seconds of … umm, how do I put this … adult situations of a highly graphic nature. Highly graphic. You can read more about it on Wikipedia. I’m not linking to it. People all over are playing the video for friends and screening it themselves and recording their own horrified and disgusted reactions. My buddy Jon comments on the phenomenon on his blog. And here are a couple of other amusing reactions:

This phenomenon is fascinating to me because its interactivity (pull up the site, set up a camera and bring in an unwitting victim) the sheer diversity of people engaging in it: college students, business professionals, servicemen, married couples, drag queens … this whole idea of sharing the experience of being utterly disgusted with the rest of the world. As Jon said, shock sites aren’t anything new, nor is the phenomenon of pranking someone into watching a viral video but this whole phenomenon of recording the real-time reaction is pretty fascinating to me. It’s the Internet’s equivalent to audiences’ initial repsonse to The Exorcist back in the 70′s.