16. Pleasing to my eyes

There was just something that i did not understand as i walked the streets of taipei. That was, the amount of basketball machines inside the city of taipei. I would walk from arcade to arcade to sometimes find rows of 20 basketball machines all lined up, and not have been surprised if three quarters of those were occupied. Sometimes the basketball machines don't need an arcade to simply be there; they're just there. Back home, basketball machines are some of the most obtuse things ever. They can be found in gaming zones and share just-about-equal reputations with whack-a-croc, wheel-of-fortune, roll-a-ball-into-a-target and feed big momma. If you wanted to play on one these machines in australia, you would have to think again, and come back when it is darker, to save yourself the embarrassment of being seen.

The way to play this game was to shoot as many baskets in a certain amount of time. There are three levels in the entire game, and if one level is passed, the player is allowed into the next one. Each level has 60 seconds. So that's 180 seconds in total. A good score would be around about 220.

One day, as i was browsing the tv at my aunty's house, i discovered what the fuss was all about. Celebrities on tv were playing the machines, and that's what it was all about. Tv also showed basketball competitions endorsed by celebrities. A major competition at that time was taken out by a 40yr old mother of two, who scored 880 points. You could imagine the stance she would have to take and what she would need to perform with her arms every quarter of a second. Though she wasn't a celebrity at that time, she soon became more like one. For the boys in the picture, they were supposed to be 'beyond cool' and definitely way cooler than basketball machines, but because of social influence, all things became possible. If a celebrity could do it, people don't have the power to put you down for doing it. If everyone does it, the action suddenly becomes normal e.g. coughing and spitting large phlegms while lining up in a queue to buy an ice-cream. It would be those 'normal' things in different cultures, which people do so instinctively that i find most pleasing to my eyes.

On the night of our tour graduation, a few of the groups were selected to give a repeated performance of plays/dances/songs which were performed throughout the tour. The graduation night was supposedly special because, besides the fact that it was the second last night, four 'official party' members were invited to come to watch in the front row or best seats. We were told to be on our best behaviour.

As i studied this photo, i began to realise that the hand positions of the four official party members formed a perfect evolution of a clap cycle. Starting from the right, the climax of a clap is when two hands are together making a loud sound. This evolves into a more hesitant approach, where the hands cup into each other so that the slower claps won't look awkward compared to when it is done in the together position. From there, it changes into a faint-hearted anticipation of something worth clapping for. The final evolution is of the hand position of the lady on the left: dormant.

The official party was being socially influenced in two ways. The first way was when everyone in the audience started clapping for a local hero after he says an in-joke. Everyone was cheering and going crazy both at the humour and the fact that it was 'the person'. While this was happening, the official party also decided to clap, not knowing the reason, but they did it nonetheless. Seeing that there were people in front of the front row taking pictures of the official party, they had a reason to put on some facial expression while clapping to show some facial appreciation, however obliged it may have seemed. The second way is seen in the evolution. The audience on the left quietened before the audience on the right, therefore there was a wave of quietness inside the auditorium. However official the party was, i was not so sure, but it was for certain that if a pretend clap from a majority had been setup beforehand, it would trigger the party to also clap, and perhaps with a simulated smile on their faces.

In conclusion, it is not only possible for celebrities to influence teenagers and young adults, but it can also go the other way around. In organizational terms, it is not always a top-down approach where management dictates changes, but the reverse can happen to give organizations a bottom-to-top influence, which is not extraordinary. Though socially, I look forward to being amused by this phenomenon.