a drink is quietly mixed by Mixie & a snack is quietly munched by Munchy

September 20, 2023 4:02 PM

Mixie and Munchie are 2girls1bottl3 on TikTok. The premise: Munchie has a snack while Mixie makes an elaborate boozy drink, which is then shared. Without a word of dialogue. In fact there is no monetization, no names, nothing more. Often the pair are wearing the fast food uniform, or glam, or not, and while the setting is usually just a booth at a fast food joint, the location is often completely different countries. After a viral tweet Nicolaia Rips attempts to get to the bottom of it all in The Face.
posted by zenon (87 comments total)

I'm officially old now, thanks.
posted by keep_evolving at 4:46 PM on September 20, 2023 [24 favorites]

If I’m not mistaken the account’s name is a reference to an ancient-times viral video (possibly before “viral” was a thing) that was… um…

Well, it may have involved the transmission of actual viruses. And I dearly hope neither Mixie nor Munchie have actually seen it.
posted by heyitsgogi at 4:52 PM on September 20, 2023 [5 favorites]

The empty gestures ... become interesting because they’re empty. Mixie and Munchie speak to how we experience the internet .... But the more one engages with the internet, the more one is absorbed into its processes, symbols and tropes, the more one loses oneself, digested into the anonymity of everyone else.

NO_its_just_dumb.gif

I mean, more power to them or whatever, I don't give a shit. They're not hurting anyone. But that article is utterly birdbrained.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:14 PM on September 20, 2023 [15 favorites]

I do feel that article made the TikTok channel less… everything. Some things are all surface, you know? Trying to dig deeper just makes you loopy, like red lettering on a white background.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:37 PM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

I am wearing jeans from COSTCO, socks from COSTCO, undershirt from COSTCO, underpants from TARGET.
posted by njohnson23 at 5:48 PM on September 20, 2023 [18 favorites]

Eh, I find these videos amusing. I hope that doesn't mean I'm contributing to downfall of western civilization or something. But if I am, well, it's had its run.
posted by mollweide at 5:55 PM on September 20, 2023 [12 favorites]

They’re interesting. I dig the idea, especially the drink-mixing in a fast food joint. But, man, the dead expressions and the foot-long nails tell me I’m not their audience. But, that’s kinda par for the entertainment course anymore for me.

So...Is there a Balenciaga store with a McD’s in it, or did they custom-make those cool black McD’s bags/cups/fry boxes for the video?
posted by Thorzdad at 6:09 PM on September 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Pretty sure the juxtaposition of McDonald’s and Balenciaga is the joke.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 6:11 PM on September 20, 2023

Pretty sure the juxtaposition of McDonald’s and Balenciaga is the joke.

I kinda assumed as much, but one never knows these days. Awesome work on the bags etc.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:16 PM on September 20, 2023

C'mon guys, this is art. I think it's fantastic.

And I think they know what they're doing. the dead expressions and the foot-long nails - it's a shtick. They're making a show! What does it all mean? I'm not a critic, but I take this as a meta commentary on tiktokery. It's all fake and nothing matters but appearances.

One technical question, sometimes I see videos posted in mirror-image, so the text appears backwards. Why do people do that?
posted by adept256 at 6:22 PM on September 20, 2023 [23 favorites]

Some things are all surface, you know?

I do enjoy a good surface and branch water now and then....
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:22 PM on September 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

I mean, if you made a video of a single man, eating rotisserie chicken and drinking box wine on the floor of an unfurnished studio apartment, lit only by student debt emails on a burner phone, you would be closer to modernity.
posted by adept256 at 6:30 PM on September 20, 2023 [6 favorites]

Having now watched several of these, I feel that in the spirit of fairness, Munchy should at least occasionally offer Mixie some snack.
posted by eponym at 6:32 PM on September 20, 2023 [5 favorites]

These are delightfully weird and kind of fascinating.
posted by Songdog at 6:52 PM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

I genuinely don't understand people dismissing this.

It's original; it's transgressive (opening and drinking alcohol where it's not allowed); it creates a staggered aesthetic focus (the visual is the two women, the audio is the ambient noise from wherever the hell they are now). I mean, we complain about how much of social media is junk, and here's this weird snapshot of an exaggerated non-reality where fashion meets fries, and we dismiss it?

It's exactly as the article describes: "a new kind of hyper-pop performance artist."
posted by yellowcandy at 6:59 PM on September 20, 2023 [32 favorites]

it's an ad.
for what I don't know.
but it's an ad.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 7:01 PM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

One technical question, sometimes I see videos posted in mirror-image, so the text appears backwards. Why do people do that?

1) They're capturing video that they have mirrored to make monitoring themselves easier.

2) They're using copyrighted images and want to avoid tripping automated content identification.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:01 PM on September 20, 2023

Pretty sure the juxtaposition of McDonald’s and Balenciaga is the joke.

Oh, God, I hate 2023. I mean, not just because of this stuff. But also this stuff, very much.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 7:12 PM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

> ... no monetization ...

The most recent video has a "Paid partnership @A24" pill in the corner, just to note.

Which does seem oddly appropriate.
posted by chasing at 7:25 PM on September 20, 2023 [5 favorites]

I liked it better when they did magic tricks and then punched each other.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:01 PM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

sounds like... Poppy
posted by ovvl at 8:03 PM on September 20, 2023 [5 favorites]

They are compelling and I think that they're totally brilliant. I'm not a fan of TikTok but it sure has given people the chance to let their creativity flow and as we've seen time and again, there's a lot of flowing going on.

And that article? I think that the author did a great job by making it part of the show, with detail about the clothing, the strangeness of the performance, the mystery of it all, the glamorous cars. Like, "Psst, I don't know much about Mixie and Munchie but here's what I do know. Don't tell anybody..." and turning it into this ridiculously long article that doesn't really say much at all. Similar to eating a snack and making a drink at a McD's, really.
posted by ashbury at 8:17 PM on September 20, 2023 [8 favorites]

Guess which one is paid by the word.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:26 PM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

No one is paid by the word anymore.
posted by Just the one swan, actually at 8:47 PM on September 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Turn in a haiku and see how far that gets you.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:50 PM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

No one is paid by the word anymore.

I'm paid by the bird, but the bird is the word.
posted by Literaryhero at 9:31 PM on September 20, 2023 [4 favorites]

Birds aren't real.
posted by flabdablet at 10:08 PM on September 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

This is a very well executed performance, I find their hyperreality kinda uncomfortable to look at, but the skill with which it’s presented is amazing.

In the interview they sound so much like everyone I know of my early millennial generation who went to drama school, that my wild guess is that they’re actors in their 30s.
posted by Kattullus at 10:40 PM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

Munchie needs your prayers it's true
But save a few for Mixie too
They only did what they had to do
It's sus, I suppose
posted by credulous at 11:30 PM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

Here are some facts about Mixie: her favourite smell is petrol

brexit kids is wildin
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:53 PM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

1) They're capturing video that they have mirrored to make monitoring themselves easier.

Y'know what? I suppose these women spend quite some time concentrating on a mirror while they apply this complex make-up. So a mirrored camera would make more intuitive sense to them, after having prepared in that way. Huh. Wow, this is another layer, we're seeing what they see in a mirror.
posted by adept256 at 2:01 AM on September 21, 2023

It continues to baffle me how mirrored videos aren’t seen as horribly embarrassing. Creators , do a little bit more creating before you hit post.
posted by emelenjr at 2:03 AM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm trying to say that they prepared in a mirror, so they performed in a mirror. Which is a new option. How is flipping the horizontal lazy?
posted by adept256 at 2:13 AM on September 21, 2023

We will control the horizontal.
posted by flabdablet at 2:36 AM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

The mirrored videos may also be to make themselves slightly less recognisable in public.

I really hope they drop about 50 of these videos and then just disappear without a trace, without being drawn into some tawdry corporate sellout.
posted by Lanark at 2:41 AM on September 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

This is so intriguing and I love/hate/love that the article reveals practically nothing about them but is still delightful to read.

I don't really understand what they're doing but I love the weirdness of it.
posted by bitteschoen at 3:15 AM on September 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

I genuinely don't understand people dismissing this.

It's original; it's transgressive (opening and drinking alcohol where it's not allowed); it creates a staggered aesthetic focus (the visual is the two women, the audio is the ambient noise from wherever the hell they are now). I mean, we complain about how much of social media is junk, and here's this weird snapshot of an exaggerated non-reality where fashion meets fries, and we dismiss it?

Yeah but it's attractive young women who are making it so that means it's actually stupid and meaningless.
posted by saladin at 4:27 AM on September 21, 2023 [19 favorites]

I am too old I think, I don't get watching one full one, much less all of them.

With something for everyone (escapism meets foodie inspo meets cosplay meets mukbang meets ASMR meets comedy), they’re addictive. The girls are the best friends you wish you had.

I do not know why I would want to be friends with silent snackers.

Food inspo...these aren't recipes. Cosplay...maybe. mukbang...don't know what that is. HATE asmr. Comedy? How is it comedy?

Yep I am too old. If you enjoy this, continue to! I appreciate that making this much content means many people do like it.

In conclsuion, the internet is a land of contrasts.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:25 AM on September 21, 2023

Yeah but it's attractive young women who are making it so that means it's actually stupid and meaningless.

Oh, please. No one is calling it stupid or meaningless. It seems more that we’re wrestling with discovering the meaning/intent, and expressing legitimate frustration at the process. Hell, given how inscrutable the videos seem to be, that may be entirely the point of it all.

Not immediately swooning over something does not indicate sexism. This stuff is provoking thought, and sometimes that is a messy and frustrating process.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:33 AM on September 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

Oh, please. No one is calling it stupid or meaningless.

Within the first 12 comments you have someone saying it's "just dumb," someone describing it as "all surface," and someone claiming that it would be truer as art if it featured a man.
posted by saladin at 5:51 AM on September 21, 2023 [6 favorites]

Yeah but it's attractive young women who are making it so that means it's actually stupid and meaningless

If it were two 80+ year old women doing exactly this thing, Metafilter would be 100% swoon.
posted by brachiopod at 5:59 AM on September 21, 2023 [14 favorites]

and someone claiming that it would be truer as art if it featured a man.

Oh come on, this is peak metafilter bad faith misquoting. I myself didn't even get the reference but I'm 99% sure the comment saying "if you made a video of a single man, eating rotisserie chicken"...(etc)was a reference to some other internet weirdness.
posted by bitteschoen at 6:42 AM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

The one with the restaurant owner going along for the joke made me smile (he was in the background in the previous one).
posted by ao4047 at 6:43 AM on September 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

I really hope they drop about 50 of these videos and then just disappear without a trace, without being drawn into some tawdry corporate sellout.

Munchie, maybe but Milkshake Mixie is already Milkshake.
posted by The Bellman at 7:24 AM on September 21, 2023

There's nothing I don't love about this. If they later eschew their anonymity to become internet rich&famous, it'll lose its frisson for me, but for the now it's so perfect. (oh, the above comment was posted just as I was about to post. Aret hey half non-anon already? sadness.)
posted by taz at 7:26 AM on September 21, 2023

They kind of remind me of Gilbert and George. And also of Wet Leg.
posted by rongorongo at 7:41 AM on September 21, 2023 [4 favorites]

Btw, for the mirrored comments crowd: a bunch of phone cameras record mirrored when using the selfie camera. And not very many phones naturally offer a Flip Video setting. So it's most likely all artifact of that, rather than anything planned. It says they're not editing in post, which is part of the authenticity.
posted by foxtongue at 7:50 AM on September 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

From now on, I too, will show an imaginary audience my ice cubes before adding them.
posted by rongorongo at 8:05 AM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

The article suffers because they use 3,600 words to describe something much simpler. When I watched the actual videos, I loved everything about them. Basically everything yellowcandy said and:

1. They are completely silent, making the videos entirely show-don't-tell and juxtaposed against the way too noisy restaurant.

2. It's an excellent parody of tiktok/instagram short videos: the purposefully left in horizontal flip, putting their hand behind objects they want to show the camera so that the autofocus will focus on it (but only going through the motions of it; they're too far away and sometimes do it for objects larger than their hand).

3. Violating the rules of corporate eating establishments by bringing their own snacks and alcohol.

It is absurd. It is farcical. It rewards the viewer who pays attention to details and has at least a passing familiarity with the genre.

It is incredible art.
posted by AlSweigart at 8:16 AM on September 21, 2023 [7 favorites]

Sometimes the video is mirrored, sometimes it's not.

I did wonder for a bit if they were printing stuff backwards to get it to show properly.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:21 AM on September 21, 2023

These are hilarious. But they do give off the fetish vibe of the outrageous cooking videos of recent past.
posted by slogger at 8:29 AM on September 21, 2023

What....is the genre? I am being sincere.
posted by tiny frying pan at 8:43 AM on September 21, 2023

I find Tiktok endlessly fascinating from a cultural / art perspective. For every pet video or contrarian Joe Rogan wanna be on that platform there's 100s of these videos, often made by young women, who use the medium to interrogate / comment on their culture and their place in it. Sometimes they are funny, sometimes opaque, sometimes they are dumb but I can clearly see that even though these videos aren't made for me that they are an emerging artform often with interesting aesthetics that deserve as much respect as anything sold in a gallery or on your streaming service of choice. They are their own thing.

As for these specific videos? If you're still confused, the big clue is that one of these has been sponsored by A24 (in case you are ignorant of them they are one of the most important indie entertainment companies out there right now). The article on these videos strikes me as a text equivalent.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:45 AM on September 21, 2023

> What....is the genre? I am being sincere.

General internet video and influencer fare, though there's a bunch of sub genres: A lot of make up videos do the hand-behind-the-product-so-the-camera-autofocuses thing. K-pop has loud, colorful clothes. Food videos in general. I also get unboxing vibes from the way you're always wondering what drink their creating in the new video. And general thirty-levels-of-irony-and-subverting-tropes zoomer non-joke joke humor too.

I remember in the 2000s watching FLCL (an anime series pronounced "Fooley-Cooley") and an anime nerd friend told me, "There's about fifty jokes in each episode we're missing out on because we aren't Japanese."

I like media that forces you to pay attention for the background gags and references, though others may find the inscrutability frustrating. But it's not (entirely) just random weird-for-the-sake-of-weird bullshit; it's a little game to try to figure out (or make up your own headcanon) what's going on.
posted by AlSweigart at 8:59 AM on September 21, 2023

Caught that, yeah. So there IS monetization, contrary to that link and the post description. Take of that what you will I guess but it definitely makes it feel a little tiny bit less of a grand art project.

I'm also confused why A24 would be interested, frankly, so I'm also wondering if it's a long game marketing campaign for something.

Basically there's nothing about this that I don't find confusing. It's a thing I'm *completely* mystified about on the internet, and that hasn't happened in a while, so there must be something to it at least.</
posted by tiny frying pan at 8:59 AM on September 21, 2023

So, you're positing it's a glance at all those genres? Or are you saying TikTok is a genre now? 🤔
posted by tiny frying pan at 9:01 AM on September 21, 2023

> So, you're positing it's a glance at all those genres? Or are you saying TikTok is a genre now?

Kind of. This is very much a style of the internet age (specifically, portrait-orientation-record-from-your-smartphone-to-post-to-social-media internet age). Like, just how dolly zoom vertigo effect and Dutch angle shots are associated with the black-and-white movie era or counterintuitive-truth-about-an-academic/pop-culture-topic-presented-in-a-lecture-format is associated with TED Talks, these videos show an awareness of all the tropes of modern short-form videos (i.e. "TikTok" videos) and then do skillful parodies of them.

All without a single line of dialogue.

It does rely on having some familiarity with the genre though. Like, if I was standing alone on a barren stage in a black turtleneck and blue jeans without holding a microphone in my hand, but you didn't know who Steve Jobs was, you'd be saying, "I don't get it." Doubly so if I was doing an even deeper parody but you didn't know who Elizabeth Holmes is or how she used the Steve Jobs trope to dupe millions out of investors.
posted by AlSweigart at 9:10 AM on September 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

(I could also talk about what makes the skibidi toilet videos great for hours.)
posted by AlSweigart at 9:21 AM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

I guess it IS hard to tease out how it's a parody. It's not like I haven't seen some of the videos you're talking about. But not seeing how it's such an obvious parody I guess. Oh well.

I do find it totally uninteresting to watch so glad some are over the moon about it.
posted by tiny frying pan at 9:24 AM on September 21, 2023

Of the choice not to speak in their videos, Munchie expresses fatigue. ​“Honestly, the internet is too loud. The feed is too loud. TikTok is too loud. I’m scrolling and I just want everyone to shut the fuck up.”

I feel this in every one of my bones, down to the marrow.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 9:27 AM on September 21, 2023 [8 favorites]

C'mon guys, this is art. I think it's fantastic.

Yes! Thank you for sharing, this is amazing! I’d seen some of their TikToks and loved the article!
posted by ellieBOA at 9:50 AM on September 21, 2023

Or are you saying TikTok is a genre now? 🤔

AlSweigart has it right though I'd argue that Tiktok has been its own genre since its inception but it is totally a reflection of the Internet age and particularly young people's interaction with it. A24 gets this, as they make art.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:09 AM on September 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

The latest video they posted 33 minutes ago has one of them holding a physical magazine of The Face, which is the website of the linked article. Clearly, they're making a nod to it.
posted by AlSweigart at 10:09 AM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Still don't understand why A24 would be involved in a series of TikTok posts and it disappoints me they would be...so putting a pin in it waiting to hear what this might turn into.
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:18 AM on September 21, 2023

I love how the Face article seem as being as much of a pastiche of Face articles as Mixie and Munchie are of TikTok influencers. It does indeed include about hundred posed photos in outfits by named designers - as well as containing about 1006 cultural references - a sprinkling of which may be fabricated.
posted by rongorongo at 10:41 AM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is probably fascist, right? Like, whenever we see bright-happy-pink aesthetic, combined with a sort of purposeful psychological and moral emptiness, combined with the--god, what to call it, the gestural-commercial, the marketing that points to no-product, it always ends up turning out terrible, doesn't it?

The article subtly, maybe unconsciously, draws a connection between the Laws of Attraction and hyper-consumption: artists consuming in order to be consumed. But there has to be, if not a moral next-step, at least a humane one, some form of commentary on what it is like to be consumed. Without that step, without at least an acknowledgement of cause-and-effect, we enter some weird bataillean fetishism-without-pleasure, activity-without-nerve-endings, whose ultimate end is an unlimited cruelty that cannot believe--and is caused by its inability to believe--in the possibility of a victim.
posted by mittens at 10:49 AM on September 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

why A24 would be involved in a series of TikTok posts and it disappoints me they would be

Because someone at A24 likely saw this "series of TikTok posts" thought they were artful, funny and had a distinctive voice and decided to throw them a bit of cash and a couple hats. They did this because someone there recognised what these are - art - and rather than being dismissive about them decided to recognise them. So I guess for me instead of disappointment in their slight involvement it actually endears me more to A24. It makes me think there are actually pretty cool people working at A24 who are aware of the youth zeitgeist. YMMV I guess.
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:17 AM on September 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

Imma let you finish but it did make me want to buy an A24 cap.
posted by signal at 11:28 AM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

I don't know how A24 makes money on this without there being something else in the pipe we don't know about yet. Which makes it hard to judge the particular artfulness of these. I like A24, but thought they produced movies that make them money.

Unless somehow a movie company now makes some money off impressions of videos? Want more info before I can completely judge what this is, I don't think that's wrong.
posted by tiny frying pan at 11:37 AM on September 21, 2023

Eh, A24 could be doing a project with them, or could just be getting their name in front of a (potentially) different audience.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 11:39 AM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

I legit thought the A24 thing was part of the act!

Brands regularly make appearances or are 'featured' in the videos, but I don't think usually involve money. Or maybe they do, I mean money is clearly involved somehow and anything else is pure conjecture. What I see is that the usual influencer grift being totally inverted, but I didn't want to frame things too much with my personal opinions on that so I edited all that context out.

Their video from four days ago is listed as a collaboration and linked by the A24 account, so there's something there.

I hope no-one feels duped. I don't feel faked out by it, partly because I'm just not too fussy about the finances of art projects like this. But mainly because I am sloowww. Hell it takes me about four days to organize a post on metafilter.
posted by zenon at 11:40 AM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Eh, A24 could be doing a project with them, or could just be getting their name in front of a (potentially) different audience.

It makes a HUGE difference to me as art if it's an elaborate marketing scheme or if it was organic and then noticed, used, how it is used, etc. Not that anyone needs my opinion or final thoughts but others have shared why they think it's art and for me this is vital information.
posted by tiny frying pan at 11:44 AM on September 21, 2023

Don't feel duped, zenon! Curious and feeling like there's more to the story.
posted by tiny frying pan at 11:45 AM on September 21, 2023

“Munchie says with conviction: ​“I mean, we’re Asian. I’m literally cosplaying a white girl.’”

That quote shifted a lot for me in how I received what they are doing, especially the deadpan uncanny feeling to it.
posted by umbú at 11:46 AM on September 21, 2023 [4 favorites]

A24 explained it as "Dream collab for Pearl 1 Year Anniversary. Full @Mixie and Munchie Bloody Mary vid now in the A24 App 🪓 "

So I don't think it's overly elaborate beyond A24 bringing the duo in to promote A24's app and also to remind the duo's audience about a movie that they might have got missed after covid.
posted by zenon at 11:52 AM on September 21, 2023 [4 favorites]

I am def too old but I like it, except the part where Munchie is eating fried chicken and painting her nails. I mean, I get it (sure...) but ew.
posted by supermedusa at 12:10 PM on September 21, 2023

the dead expressions and the foot-long nails - it's a shtick.

Exactly. I just watched the one where they make a Bloody Mary in a -- well, I'm not sure which fast food joint it is -- and it's clear the Munchie nearly breaks character and has to cover her mouth with a piece of chicken to hide a smile.

They're not actually dead-eyed bimbos (or whatever stereotype some people seem to want to project onto them). They're very clearly Doing A Thing and are fully aware of it.
posted by asnider at 12:31 PM on September 21, 2023 [5 favorites]

Am I allowed to think it's a mildly interesting entry in the long tradition of people making fun, weirdo content using the popular media of their time, or do I have to declare it to be original, transgressive Art/probably somehow fascism/so baffling as to surpass understanding/etc.
posted by eponym at 2:00 PM on September 21, 2023 [13 favorites]

Yes.
posted by signal at 2:14 PM on September 21, 2023

The comments on Tik Tok are great as well. People are really loving this, and enjoying the mystery.

It does seem that the sound is stock Tik Tok sounds plus the sound of the drink being mixed, which sounds like they have a mic in the glass or something. Its's all pretty surreal and there are hats.

The other thing that is amazing, as regards generating engagement, is that they don't seem to ever appear in the comments for each video. This is something that platforms tend to penalise creators for.
posted by asok at 4:18 PM on September 21, 2023

The surrealists, dadaists and situationists would have been proud. This is most excellent.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 11:09 PM on September 21, 2023

What....is the genre? I am being sincere.
Back in the camcorder era, shows would pay viewers £250 for footage of somebody falling off a chair in a 'hilarious' manner. It was enough money, I suspect, to tempt people to stage their own video, make it look spontaneous and enjoy spending their winnings.

The problem is that this is hard: you would have to shoot events so as to look like, say, typical wedding camcorder footage. You would need to have an overall idea - and then a filming location, some kind of story-boarded plan, actors, extras - probably toddlers or pets. Once everything was in place, you would have to try to get it right in one take - because if you had to insert cuts, it would show. Making a convincing fake would require a talented director!

A lot of Tiktok material is shot like that too: put your smartphone on a tripod, press record and then have stuff happen. If things go wrong, you can stop and re-start - but the editing will typically be basic; done within the app. To come over as authentic, the results should look artless.If you are very lucky as a Tiktok content maker - you might end up coming up with something good simply be virtue of chance and perseverance - but to consistently produce great content is much harder.

Mixie and Munchie are working with the consumption and preparation of elaborate food and drinks, usually in a location which they don't have control over or permission to film in - an environment which would be a nightmare for any continuity editor. It you look at their posts you will see multiple takes- but they seem to have all be taken in one continuous shooting session; success if all or nothing. However- each video shows meticulous prior planning: they have to have the props to hand, a tightly choreographed sequence of events, a planned duration of a minute or two, a camera angle, proper lighting, elaborate outfits and the perfect moment to shoot. A lot of the charm of their videos comes from their stalwart ability to keep award-worthy straight faces as earrings come off, food spills or curious onlookers loom in the background.

So the genre is performance art rendered through the constraints of Tiktok and performed to the standard where a casual viewer could believe these are just a couple of vapid, vain girls sharing their fast food experience like on a million others out there.
posted by rongorongo at 1:43 AM on September 22, 2023 [5 favorites]

I appreciate having the thing where they show things in the palms of their hands explained. I don't watch many of the videos this is related to, and didn't know it was a common way of drawing attention to an item; I just thought they were being weird.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:00 AM on September 22, 2023

I appreciate having the thing where they show things in the palms of their hands explained.

Just for context here, it comes from Beauty YouTube and it’s a way of making the camera refocus on the product instead of on your face.
posted by ellieBOA at 12:32 PM on September 22, 2023 [3 favorites]

I love Mixie and Munchy.

If you want another example of something on Tiktok that is both art and product placement at the same time check out this Sylvanian Drama video for Burberry
posted by zymil at 2:45 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

For anyone who hates tiktok, they're also on youtube.
posted by juv3nal at 6:58 AM on September 24, 2023 [2 favorites]

I have now gained +10 knowledge. I am personally intrigued thinking off what future archivists and researchers will say about how humans presented themselves in public channels during the early to middle 2000s....
posted by Rabarberofficer at 3:19 PM on September 24, 2023