Last fall, just as adults (and marketers) were grappling with the explosive rise of TikTok as being the current app du jour, a new form of participatory fiction was emerging under the radar. While many were busy questioning: “Isn’t TikTok just Vine only for lip syncing?” and “I’m an old…. Am I even allowed on TikTok” and “Is TikTok a backdoor for China to destroy all that we neolibs hold near and dear?,” the ‘kids’ were busy pioneering new forms of storytelling by exploiting the platform’s duet, reaction, and ‘use this sound’ features. (If you are unfamiliar with TikTok’s basic mechanics, for a good grounder on TikTok check out this New York Times article.)
The simplest definition of the duet feature is from FanBytes’ What Everyone Should Know about TikTok’s Duet feature:
"TikTok Duets basically allow users to create content featuring an initial video, with both videos appearing side by side on screen in a square format. This means that people can effectively reply to video content with their own videos – which then can be shared publicly."
There are too many ‘forms’ of duets to count: from dance challenges, a cappella chains morphing into whole choirs, influencer beefs… the list goes on and on. For brands and marketers interested in employing Tiktok, the duet feature is seen as another tool to drive UGC with influencer marketing being the crucial ‘other side’ of that coin.
In this five-part series I’ll be focusing on mainly #mafiaoc and following up with The Girl Who Is “Different” as an addendum to explore how Tiktok’s duet/reaction and ‘use this sound’ features are being used to drive mass collaborative participatory fiction (or ‘open and shared storyworlds’).
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
CONTENT WARNING & PREAMBLE
PART ONE: THE BIRTH? OF A HASHTAG
PART TWO: EVERY MAFIA NEEDS A MOB BOSS (OR DOES IT?)
PART THREE: INTERACTIVITY CHALLENGES THE CINEMATIC FRAME
PART FOUR: REITERATIVE IMPROVISATION AS SEEN IN THE GIRL WHO IS ‘DIFFERENT’ — Coming Soon
PART FIVE: RED-STRINGS & FAN TRAILERS: THE ATTEMPTS TO CANONIZE — Coming Soon
Content Warning: An open shared storyworld based on loosely-formed collaborations are more than often messy (in the very least from an IP perspective) but particularly when some of the key ‘players’ are at some point outed for predatory behaviours. It would be a disservice to explore the mechanics of a co-creation by skirting around any mention of those key creators (who I do mention mainly in Part Two), but it would also be exploitative to focus on (particularly from an outside perspective) an intra-conversation in which other key creatives are exhausted by, recovering, and healing from. The focus of this article is strictly on the mechanics of the emerging storytelling form with the preface to exercise caution and self-care when digging deeper into #mafiaoc. As an extra precaution, TikToks featuring any of the accused have been nestled inside accordion modules.
PREAMBLE
Participatory Fiction is a broad umbrella category that I use to describe any narrative-driven co-created shared storyworld that employs a sandbox model (as opposed to a pre-determined branching interactive model) regardless of format: from Nordic Larps, to RPGs, Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), and some Immersive Theater and transmedia properties. It’s important to note that many of the techniques employed in #mafiaoc recall those cemented over the last decade or so, notably via Twitter and Tumblr RPGs, and earlier. (The terminology used to define a particular type of participatory fiction is really dependent on the preferred vernacular of the community in which the activities take place. Those who come from a North American Larping culture that moved its roleplaying aspects online often refer to it as simply Larping. Those who come from the online RPG community will likely define these activities as RP/RPG. Others still will use collaborative storytelling, and would not be wrong (except in strict academic sense where collaborative storytelling is a broad category that spans tens of thousands of years.))
However, the mechanics of TikTok’s duet and ‘use this sound’ features are driving key co-creators to employ these techniques in fresh new ways. What is surprising most of all, is how these new techniques are challenging over a century’s build-up of ‘rules’ around what is likely soon to be ‘formally called’ the ‘cinematic lens’ (more on that later).
Broken down, the hashtag #mafiaoc simply marries ‘mafia’ with the abbreviation for ‘original character,’ and many of the standard ‘rules’ apply in creating any #oc in any of the aforementioned communities. For us olds, this is similar to what many are most familiar with in creating a DND character but with less formality and without the dice. In the case of #mafiaoc on TikTok, the drivers that the hashtag owes its popularity to were largely cosplayers, many of whom have created elaborate origin and backstories for their characters. At the height of #mafiaoc’s popularity, we can see attempts at codifying original character creation in this Fandom wiki FAQ page.
PART ONE: THE BIRTH? OF THE HASHTAG
Here I will split up the case study into two columns. On the left, I will be tracing, as best as I can, the beginnings of #mafiaoc on the app. (Note: TikTok, in ultimate resistance to any semblance of linearity that most social media platforms offer via ‘the feed’, is shit for finding the original use of hashtags so the ‘earliest version’ I could find came from over two full days of ‘old school’ digging methods; there are likely even earlier examples and I am happy to include here if anyone forwards one to me). Through this trace, I will be looking ‘under the hood,’ for lack of a better term, at the ‘back-end’ mechanics of the #mafiaoc participatory fiction — such as the use of hashtags and the implied social rules and conventions for interaction. On the right hand column, I will be focusing on the front-facing storytelling that plays with either roleplaying or cinematic conventions.
BACK END OBSERVATIONS
FRONT END OBSERVATIONS
Although the #mafiaoc hashtag grew prominence as an official TikTok trend in the fall of 2019, even as early as late August, with many crediting cosplayer Clapdaddie as the originator, in this video you can see that popular cosplayer Vain Virgo — who would go on to become one of #mafiaoc’s most recognizable participants, was employing the hashtag as early as July 30th, 2019 while dueting with an original TikTok (what I will now refer to as a ‘source Tiktok’) created by cosplayer Skettska.
In the TikTok on the right, here Vain Virgo introduces her #mafiaoc Eliza character in duet with Skettska’s Maeve character (from an original TikTok posted July 19th), and marries the hashtag with a song byte from “Bust Your Kneecaps” by Pomplamoose. This song would quickly go on to become a #mafiaoc anthem.
Although Skettska’s source TikTok to the above duet did not employ the #mafiaoc hashtag, another TikTok posted the day after (on July 20th), also featuring the character Maeve, uses #mobsteroc ,which was to become a lesser popular hashtag than #mafiaoc.
Maeve was featured heavily on Skettska’s account for the months following (well in advance of #mafiaoc’s explosive popularity from late August to October 2019) with the TikToks featuring the character often tagged with #maeve #malonemob in addition to #mobsteroc. In fact, on July 31st 2019, Skettska uploaded the TikTok (seen below) that gave background not only of the character’s backstory but also the inspiration for Maeve’s creation. You can see within the comments, various ones asking for permission to become part of the #malonemob family, which suggests a pre-established ‘etiquette’ system on TikTok for interacting and dueting with cosplay #oc’s. This, once again, affirms that the techniques employed for roleplaying on TikTok derive from pre-existing and cemented conventions from earlier forms of participatory fiction.
@skettskaquick and dirty facts about Miss Maeve Malone ##maeve##mobster##oc♬ original sound – skettska
By August 16th, Skettska posted rules for engaging with the #malonemob hashtag, declaring it an open tag to allow for creative freedom with a few sensible boundary-setting rules. In the comment section, we can see inquiries about the time period to set their members of the clan (answered ‘40s-50s’) and if there was a Discord for keeping up with the story (answered ‘no’). Skettska further clarifies in the comments that these rules do not apply to #mafiafamily as that tag was credited to red.trunks. This is in reference to this July 15, 2019 TikTok (seen on the right) that also employs the same sample of ‘Bust Your Kneecaps.’ In the comment section of that TikTok, we can see that the rules for joining the mob family of Randall (red.trunk’s original character) are very open and limited mostly to ‘Can I join?’ with the simple rejoinder ‘Yes!’.
In some respects, red.trunk’s TikTok, credited for starting #mafiafamily, was a recreation of this other TikTok also by the popular cosplayer (in a duet with ghoul.king.casper), which employs a different upload of the same ‘Bust Your Kneecaps’ sample. This variant of the song sample appears to have trended in mid-June 2019 with various cosplay characters duet, mirroring each other, as captor and captive on opposite sides of the frame (I will circle back to mirrored POV later).
However, you will note, that the explicit use of the hashtag #mafiafamily wasn’t employed by red.trunks until the following day on July 16th in a duet with sweet_insanity, which uses a song byte ‘Why on gods green earth is this audio so popular’ (an an authorized upload of Looking Like This by Lyre le temps). Looking Like This would quickly become another sample to play heavily as a #mafiaoc anthem.
And then finally on July 18th, we see red.trunks employing the hashtag #mafiaoc in this TikTok of Randall welcoming a ‘sibling’ to his mafia family in duet, while employing the hashtag #mafiaoc (potentially making it the first instance of its use — again, TikTok’s mechanics make it very hard to source the original use of hashtags).
In the time from Randall’s ‘call to action’ to join the #mafiafamily on the July 15th to a TikTok posted on July 30th, Randall was featured on the red.trunks account over thirty times before, surprisingly, the character was killed off on August 21st, 2019 in one of the earliest more cinematic and narrative driven #mafiaoc TikToks.
KEY FINDINGS OF THE HASHTAG ORIGINS:
By examining the hashtags beginnings, we can draw a few conclusions:
- Cosplayers were using ‘Bust Your Knee Caps’ in a mirrored-duet fashion with a ‘gangster’ vibe as early as mid-June, 2019
- The first anthems for #mafiaoc were being established well in advance of late August 2019 (Bust Your Knee Caps and Looking Like This amongst likely many more ‘anthems’ popular with TikTok cosplayers at the time)
- There was a clear mafia family recruitment period driven by red.trunks that began on July 15th
- Family mob lines were being established within days following, if not even earlier (the #malonemob being an early such clan)
- The TikTok cosplay community was of the earliest most prominent adopters to interact between characters with various proto-versions of the hashtag (#mobsteroc, #mafiafamily, #mafia #oc) via duets and reactions
- A prominent TikTok cosplayer dueting a potential player could signify an almost storytelling ‘christening’ of being ‘adopted’ into a mafia family (or storyline)
- This form of Tiktok roleplay follows pre-established lines of etiquette and official forums for communication/organization (i.e. Discord channels) in the same manner as other platform RPGs (such as those on Twitter/Tumblr)
- And guidelines for play and interaction were already being married to hashtags, in which the originator of the hashtag is both given respectful credit but also placed in a respected caretaker role who facilitates rules of play (or the choice to not pick up that mantle) with a certain communal ‘ownership’ being bestowed to those credited for a hashtag’s creation
TikTok Mafia Family Statistics:
Here both characters lip synch ‘together’ in which the format of the duet feature, in this instance, is interpreted by the viewer following the typical split-screen convention that is the most familiar to audiences: a side-by-side action, filmed independently but played together to imply synchronous actions. As this is the first instance of the characters pairing, narratively it suggests an alliance, either one that was pre-existing or one seen as being established as of now. Although Maeve’s eyes flit briefly towards Eliza, giving the implied effect of being united in one space, the cinematic framing is in second person POV in which both characters are breaking the fourth wall by addressing the viewer.
@red.trunksjust gonna start a mob family ##chain ##duetthis ##duetwithme ##fy ##fyp ##foryou ##foryoupage ##mobster♬ bust your knee caps by pomplamoose – maxlights
Above we see the character Randall in his now trademark tailored dark-red dress shirt, fingerless gloves, and classic newsboys cap (now more commonly referred to as a ‘Peaky Blinder’s cap), lip syncing while casually twirling his hammer with a soft and teasing implied menace. Unlike the majority of TikToks that employ lip syncing (whether it is a sound byte or a song byte) for any number of reasons, lip syncing in this type of TikTok cosplay, again being framed in second POV, is specifically employed to establish or add texture to one’s #oc. This has the same narrative impact as the front face of a TV or Film trading card where the primary purpose is to offer a bullet point of the character situated within one’s storyworld. While an #oc could lip sync to literally anything, there is a risk of weakening or even breaking character, so the sounds and song samples used by #mafiaoc in these instances might not necessarily be ‘mobster’ or ‘mafia’ specific (as there are many that are shared across other popular cosplay worlds and franchises on TikTok), but are rather used to amplify the #oc’s traits and qualities. The call to action to ‘join the family’ invites the viewer to create one’s own #oc to duet with Randall.
@red.trunksrandall couldn’t win his last fight ##mafiaoc ##mafiafamily ##cosplay ##occosplay ##oc ##foryoupage♬ Closer by Nauges – sethanielc
In this more narrative driven TikTok above, the framing is again set in second POV although it is up to the viewer to whether to interpret that they are being placed in the position of Randall’s murderer or a saviour who arrived too late. Rather than establish or amplify character in the trading card fashion as previously mentioned, this TikTok presents a story beat.
Click here to read PART TWO: EVERY MAFIA NEEDS A MOB BOSS (OR DOES IT?)
OR GO TO:
PART THREE: INTERACTIVITY CHALLENGES TO THE CINEMATIC FRAME
PART FOUR: REITERATIVE IMPROVISATION AS SEEN IN THE GIRL WHO IS ‘DIFFERENT’ — Coming Soon
PART FIVE: RED-STRINGS & FAN TRAILERS: THE ATTEMPTS TO CANONIZE — Coming Soon
