The Story

Flash Mob Strikes on Old Campus

Dec. 7, 2007 | By Jonna Knappenberger, DSJ News Editor

Students surround James Blair statue. Photo by Marina Stranieri.

“READ THIS OVER, AS THIS WILL BE THE ONLY INSTRUCTIONS YOU RECEIVE. KEEP THIS MESSAGE A SECRET FROM NON-PARTICIPANTS!”

These were the words broadcast via Facebook to members of a “William and Mary Flash Mob” group at midnight on Dec. 3. The message came from Sean Twigg (’10), one of two creators of the group.

The message continued: “At exactly 12:25 p.m. [on Dec. 4], everyone should circle the James Blair statue, located in-between the Tyler and J. Blair building… I (Sean) will then yell out ‘Ready... Lift!’ After that, everyone should hold out their arms, palms up, humming loudly, and pretend like you're lifting the statue WITH YOUR MIND!”

The instructions explicitly asked participants not to loiter around beforehand, even suggesting that mobbers “hide in a building around the statue if necessary.” At the end of the action, the message instructed, “DO NOT HANG AROUND! DO NOT ACT LIKE ANYTHING UNUSUAL HAPPENED! This is the most important and fun part of the flash mob experience.”

According to creators Twigg and Zach Claywell (’10), the flash mob Facebook group was started last year but stalled at around 100 members until this year, when the duo decided to send out a call to action. The group’s membership expanded to over 750 students at the College within a week, shortly before their first display on Dec. 4.

The Facebook page explains flash mobs as “large groups of people that converge upon small areas to wreak a minute or two of harmless havoc then quickly disperse.” Twigg and Claywell are quick to note that the instructions posted on the site were taken from a similar movement at Tufts.

Such movements have become popular around the U.S. recently. According to Wikipedia, the first flash mob was organized in New York City in 2003, where over a hundred people gathered at a Macy’s department store looking to buy an expensive rug. Supposedly, they were advised to say that they lived together in a warehouse and made all purchase decisions as a group. Other mobs have used tactics like spontaneous bouts of applause to be noticed.

The Facebook page offers a few rules, including the disclaimer that “every event is supposed to be funny, but also peaceful.” Nevertheless, it seems like what makes or breaks a flash mob is its coordination and size. “The bigger this is, the cooler it will be, and we can do a lot of different things with bigger and bigger groups.”

The turnout on Dec. 4 was impressive. “We were expecting five to twenty people to show up,” said Twigg afterwards. “It’s one thing to sign up on Facebook and another to actually do it. We didn’t want to expect anything big.”

The lifting of the James Blair statue was inspired by a similar act at the Pentagon, described in Abbie Hoffman’s piece of counterculture literature Steal This Book. However, unlike Hoffman’s imagined lifting of the Pentagon, Claywell and Twigg note that there was no political motivation behind their lifting of the Blair statue.

“I think a flash mob should definitely not have any political ties. It shouldn’t say anything,” said Claywell.

“It seems like you discover here that everyone has an opinion about politics,” Twigg said. “We didn’t want that with flash mob. It’s completely neutral.”

When asked for their reasons for inciting the mob, Twigg responded, “Randomness?” Claywell explained, “It was an idea we hadn’t heard of at William and Mary and we needed to add a little weirdness to campus.”

“The beauty of it,” said Claywell, “is that you can do it on your way to class. You can stop, levitate a building and not be late.”

After the students gathered and attempted to lift the statue (with their minds), Claywell shouted, “Wow! It moved! We did it!” The assembled students then clapped, cheered and abruptly dispersed. Admittedly, there were a number of confused onlookers.

Interestingly, the two friends both say that it didn’t take too much effort to come up with an action. They brainstormed for about a half an hour before sending the message. “Idea generation should be random and spontaneous. By the time you analyze - who cares? You step beyond what flash mob really is at that point,” Claywell said.

They did share a previous idea that was rejected due to lack of coordination and spontaneity. They had thought about attempting to pack a hall in an academic building full of as many students as possible, and have them repeatedly bump into each other and apologize.

Claywell said that he and Twigg intend to keep organizing flash mobs around campus. “We’d love to do a flash mob during finals… but we don’t want to get ‘flash-mobbed out.’”

Pictures and videos of the Dec. 4 levitation of the Blair statue can be found online, at the William and Mary Flash Mob Facebook page and on YouTube. The group can be reached at wmflashmob@yahoo.com.