Kiss That Frog
Can’t you hear beyond the croaking?—Peter Gabriel, Kiss That Frog
It’s an old story: A frog magically transforms into a prince.
On YouTube, that old tale of instant transformation seems to play out on a regular basis, because of the sheer number of frogs (uploads) and kisses (sharing of videos).
In the past few days, Ted Williams, the now formerly homeless man with the “golden voice” has become the latest YouTube celebrity to follow in the footsteps of Susan Boyle and Justin Bieber.
Williams, who just a few days ago was panhandling holding a sign announcing his voice talent, was hired today by MSNBC to do voiceovers for the network, and earlier was offered a job and a house by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Suddenly, everyone is hearing beyond the croaking—or rather, seeing beyond the disheveled appearance of a homeless man—to discover the voice within.
In the Multimedia Storytelling class I’m taking this quarter at the MCDM, we’ve been discussing how most stories follow a classic, Aristotelian arc, often featuring a dramatic reversal of fortune and a transformation of the hero.
Williams’ story is a school-book example: a rags-to-riches, obscurity-to-fame story.
His story calls to mind the Brothers Grimm’s story The Frog King. In modern versions of the tale, the frog’s transformation is triggered by a princess’ kiss, but in earlier versions, the spell is broken by throwing the frog against the wall.
Williams’ reversal of fortune seems like an act of love, in which a nation is suddenly embracing his hidden talent, but there’s also something violent and unrelenting in the way he’s been thrust in the social and mass media spotlight.
Meanwhile in Hollywood, a script writer is undoubtedly already working on writing a film about Williams’ life, featuring a hero who overcomes addiction to alcohol and drugs, gets clean, finds religion and is lifted out of his homeless existence through a chance encounter with a video journalist.
That all may sound like a LifeTime cliché, but John Hartley argues in “Uses of YouTube: Digital Literacy and the Growth of Knowledge,” that YouTube’s banality doesn’t preclude an important role in influencing popular culture and even fine arts. YouTube may even restore “an ancient, multi-voiced mode of narration to cultural visibility,” he claims.
Powerful stories illuminate who we are and want to be. Williams’ story resonates because we root for the hero who’s suddenly recognized for who truly is.
It’s not unthinkable that Williams’ story will leap-frog from being an ephemeral trending topic to a modern-day myth.
