I decided to take my daughter out with me this weekend to run some “mommy” errands. With such a busy schedule, I use my Saturday to go to BJ’s, Target, Home Depot and even the beauty supply store. I am a mother of five. I enjoy taking at least one of my five children out with me often to engage on some one on one time. I space this time out in between my children so that I can distribute equal time with each of them. This gives me the opportunity to create a comfortable environment, where they can speak freely with me without any judgement from their siblings.
We are in the car with the windows down. The wind is blowing in our hair. We are singing every song on the radio freely. Let’s face it, we are not the next American Idol, but we are trying. The next song is about to come on. It is “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd. I am in a good vibe to the song and to the beat. My daughter is feeling the vibe as well. We are smiling ear to ear. As the song is coming to an end, my daughter asked me to lower the volume. She wanted to express to me her thoughts on the “Mannequin Challenge”. I looked at her puzzled and said, “Mannequin Challenge?” Now the song does not use the term, “Mannequin Challenge” in it at all. I was surprised that she knew what the “Mannequin Challenge” was. Now those who do not know what the “Mannequin Challenge” consist of, let me give you a brief description.
- The viral challenge requires participants to stay absolutely still while holding a pose-like, say, a mannequin
- You play any hip-hop song in the backdrop, but many prefer Rae Sremmurd’s song “Black Beatles” ft. Gucci Mane
- Meanwhile someone else weaves in and out of the group capturing the dramatic poses in a recording
The effect of the “Mannequin Challenge” looks as if someone pressed pause during a movie, as people look like mannequins placed in various positions. The Mannequin Challenge is the coolest new social media trend to take over Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, having people to go to great lengths to show off possible new and exciting ways to pose and freeze time. Anybody who is anybody has posted their own iteration of the challenge. The hashtag alone #mannequinchallenge on my personal Instagram to date has 615,967 posts. Rae Sremmurd’s song “Black Beatles” ft. Gucci Mane is highly preferred because Rae Sremmurd paused a concert to do a Mannequin Challenge live on stage with his song playing as the backdrop. The video showed many concert goers completely still while the song played. Once released, the popularity in using the song captured us all.
I mean let’s face it, one of my favorite movies growing up as a little girl was the movie named “The Mannequin”. The movie came out in 1987. Yes, I may be showing my age a little by stating this. The movie consisted of a gentleman who was a department store window dresser. He fell in love with one of the department stores mannequins. The attraction was so real that the mannequin then came to life, but only for him. So many fun things come out of this romantic comedy. I always wondered as a little girl going into a department store if Mannequins were real. I would stare at them waiting to see if one gives me a wink or a smile. I would even touch them to see if they came to life. I know that this may sound weird. This actually gives the perfect example on how I was influenced as a child just by watching a movie on television. This experience also helps me to reflect on my own children and how influenced one can be from the outside world.
I must admit, the song is catchy and so is the challenge. It still has not outdone its five minutes of fame. During our conversation I asked my daughter, “well how do you know what the Mannequin Challenge is?” Mind you, at almost twelve years old, she has limited availability to social media. She does not own a cellular device. Aside from home to school and school to home, her weekends consist of making s’mores, watching The Food network and playing big sister to her little brother. During the long pause I thought to myself, social media has made me aware of an important issue. The issue being the effects it has on our upcoming youth. Similar to the effect it had on me as a child, when I watched the movie “The Mannequin”. I asked again, “dear daughter please answer me”. Her response was, “my friends were showing me the Mannequin Challenge during recess at school. Brittney pulled out her cell phone to show us girls exactly how it is done”. Now, I do not mind my daughter using her recess to unwind with her friends. My biggest concern was the lack of control a parent can have over what influences their child when they are not around to protect them. The lack of control can stem from many areas, especially from the internet, social media accounts, YouTube viewings, etc. It was interesting on how my daughter’s engagement in conversation with me about the Mannequin Challenge, made her feel cool. Even though I knew what the challenge was, I was not sure that she exactly knew that I knew.
The Mannequin Challenge became popular in schools before making its way to the worlds of celebrities, music artist, concerts, professional sports, and even in politics. Kevin Hart, Adele, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Garth Brooks, Blac Chyna etc. are many of the few celebrities that have engaged in the challenge. The reunion of the music group Destiny’s Child happened during the birthday celebration of Kelly Rowlands’s son Titan’s second birthday. The dynamic group decided to hop on the trend and post a video. Blac Chyna, who gave birth to the first Kardashian heir on November 10, 2016 did the challenge in her delivery room. Blac Chyna, Rob Kardashian, Family and friends created their version of the labor of Dream Kardashian. The First Lady Michelle Obama included herself in the national phenomenon. Even in the Clinton campaign, Hillary Clinton joined the challenge which included a cameo from Bill Clinton and Jon Bon Jovi. Her slogan for the challenge was, “Don’t stand still, vote today.”
With such popularity behind this new trend, I should have not been so naïve that my daughter was aware of the Mannequin Challenge. As I engaged more in conversation with her I was able to see the innocence behind her interest. She began telling me how her friends in school would like to create a video of their own. She went on and on about the type of wardrobe they would like to wear and the location they would like to record in. This made me think wow, did the artist who created this song ever think that having it played in the backdrop during his concert would have increased this challenge to become such a big deal. It amazes me how people come together to create such a happy moment. After all, the Mannequin Challenge is said to be created by some students in Jacksonville Florida, just this past October 2016. Challenges are now becoming even more complex. I have even seen challenges including others pets. Yes, I said that correctly, pets!
During the beginning of the conversation with my daughter, I thought to myself that social media could have triggered a negative effect on my child with “no parental controls”. I then realized that every category social media touches may not always turn out to be a bad thing. I am not saying that social media does not have categories not one should not be alerted to, but this particular case is not one. Social media made me more aware of another important issue, it can unite others and encourage them to build a connection of interest. Proper approach behind everything one does is key. One thing I learned as a parent is to not over shelter my children. I realized when I participate with them, I am not only monitoring their curiosity, I am also showing them that I am available to them at all times. This challenge may not be so bad after all.
I am close to home, after a long drive. We are exhausted from a day full of errands and it is not even dinner time. Somehow, I decided that dinner can wait an extra hour or two today. I look at my daughter and said “well beautiful daughter of mine, I guess when we get home we have to get everyone in our family together at once”. As we stopped at a red light, she looked at me and said, “why mom?”
I replied, “So we can put together our own “Mannequin Challenge” of our family sweetie.” Her eyes opened wide. Her body stood up straight. She screamed with excitement. She almost could not speak. She said, “That would be so cool mom. But wait, what can we do? What will we wear? What would be our theme? Do we include the pets? After a deep breath and a sense of relaxation, she then looked at me and smiled.
Link to Rae Sremmurd – Black Beatles ft. Gucci Mane – on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8m9zhNAgKs
