#15SecondShakespeare
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About
#15SecondShakespeare is a series of short video clips in which the subject performs a dramatic reading of contemporary pop song lyrics in the style of Elizabethan literature, in a similar vein to the archaic rap image macro series.
Origin
The Elizabethan recital fad was first introduced in a video clip posted by British actor David Fynn via his Instagram account under the name "15 Second Shakespeare" on January 4th, 2015. In the 15-second video, Fynn performs a dramatic reading of the chorus from Carly Rae Jepsen's 2011 dance pop hit single "Call Me Maybe" in a whispering voice.
Throughout January 2015, Fynn uploaded two additional recital clips with the hashtag #15SecondShakespeare, featuring Shakespearean renditions of Baha Men's 2000 hit song "Who Let The Dogs Out" and Jamaican musician Ini Kamoze's 1994 reggae song "Here Comes The Hotstepper" (shown below, left & center). However, Fynn's hobby project largely went unnoticed until September 11th, when he posted a #15SecondShakespeare rendition of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song to his Instagram account (shown below, right). Within two weeks of upload, the post garnered 240 likes and 20 comments.
Spread
That same day, New York-based actor David Baynes uploaded an Instagram video post featuring his Shakespearean recital of Spice Girls' 1996 hit single "Wannabe" (shown below, left). On September 12th, British actor Simon Riordan uploaded his #15SecondShakespeare rendition of Gwen Stefani's 2004 solo debut single "Hollaback Girl" (shown below, right).
Throughout the month of September, hundreds of additional videos featuring dramatic recitals of pop song lyrics surfaced on Instagram and Twitter under the hashtag #15SecondShakespeare, largely driven by celebrity participation from dozens of well-known English-speaking actors and actresses, as well as the incorporation of a nomination process previously used in the 2014 viral dare game Ice Bucket Challenge.
Red Cross Donations
On September 23rd, David Fynn, the British actor who started the participatory video trend on Instagram, tweeted a message declaring the hashtag as a fundraising campaign for Red Cross to provide assistance in the ongoing European Migration Crisis. On the next day, the official British Red Cross blog[17] ran a similar article promoting the fundraising aspect of the dramatic reading meme.
Search Interest
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External References
[1] Instagram – David Fynn's Instagram Post
[2] Instagram – David Fynn's Instagram Post
[3] Instagram – David Fynn's Instagram Post
[4] Instagram – David Fynn's Instagram Post
[5] Instagram – David Baynes' Instagram Post
[6] Instagram – Search Results for #15SecondShakespeare
[7] Twitter – Video Results for #15SecondShakespeare
[8] Twitter – Hashtag Results for #15Secondshakespeare
[9] Topsy – Tweets Per Day for #15SecondShakespeare
[10] Cheezburger – Actors Are Reciting Rap Lyrics in Their Best Shakespearean Voices
[11] CNN – #15SecondShakespeare: Celebrities do their best Shakespearean read of pop songs
[12] Mashable – Actors reciting pop songs in the style of Shakespeare is as brilliant as you'd expect
[13] Telegraph – #15secondshakespeare: pop lyrics help create drama on Twitter
[14] MTV – Celebs Shakespeare-ifying Pop Songs Is Your New Favorite Thing
[15] BuzzFeed – Welcome To The New Celebrity #IceBucketChallenge
[16] The Guardian – #15secondshakespeare: actors on Twitter create drama from song lyrics
[17] Red Cross – TOP ACTORS SWAP MACBETH FOR MADONNA, AND HELP REFUGEES
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