Chances are, living in the YouTube generation, you may have already seen this infamous rendition of the dearly departed King of Pop's 1982 cult classic.
Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) is a maximum security prison in Cebu, a province in the Philippines. CPDRC inmates are behind bars for crimes ranging from rape, to armed robbery, to murder.
How do you get men deemed too dangerous for society to shake their tail feathers? Bring inByron Garcia, political offspring and corporate management guru, into the Cebu penitentiary system. Garcia was inspired by Shawshank Redemption's prison scene in which Mozart's Figaro incites a poetic cacophony in the prison yard, as well as the existing daily 1-hour exercise routine.
"If someone wants to see hell on Earth, if someone wants to come face to face with the grizzly ghouls from immortal tombs, one only has to visit the jails," writes Byron on his website. And thus, he chose "Thriller," as the first choreographed routine.
Byron brings a real life "Thriller" by invigorating prisoners with a new zest for life through channeling their energies into dance. They've choreographed and danced to the Black Eyed Peas, MJ, Beyonce, and Queen. Lately they've doneSoulja Boy, Jai Ho, and a special rendition of "This is It."
Dancing inmates would be strange enough. Dancing inmates in the Philippines with an international audience of over 40 million is mind-boggling. This modern day phenomenon indicates an important repercussion for the U.S. The CPDRC YouTube videos are a covert, unintentional new media campaign to display American culture in the most unlikely of venues.
We've been criticized for our penitentiary recidivism rates and poor rehabilitation methods. Can dancing inmates be the answer? In an era of abysmal U.S. credibility abroad, perhaps the secret to restoring American credibility lies in fostering inmate performances.
Here are some lessons we can learn from the dancing inmates:
- Is this an example of America's soft power? Yes. The dancing CPDRC inmates are the international ramifications of expanding U.S. pop culture. Its spread is an extension of U.S. global influence. In this scenario, US soft power is subliminally projected into the international arena through the online YouTube media network.
- CPDRC has given us reason to rethink the international conventions on rehabilitation. No matter what these criminals have done two truths are apparent. One, despite their inhumane crimes, they are quite utterly human in nature. Two, again, despite their crimes, they have garnered international recognition and immense fame.
- With a rudimentary video camera and an internet connection, a YouTube video has propelled the inmates into international superstardom. Could this have been possible using 'traditional' media? In fact, as a direct result of their YouTube popularity, CPDRC inmates have been featured on CNN, BBC, and various international traditional broadcasters.
- This is an opportunity to readdress the U.S./Philippines relationship. The CPDRC video is the "most viewed video uploaded by a Filipino with Filipino's." The two states have a history of special interactions. The CPDRC dance company is a great foundation for opening mutually beneficial dialogues.
One thing is certain, the CPDRC dancing inmates diverts from traditional penology. Could dance rehabilitation be the next trend to hit prison systems?
The CPDRC inmates have a Facebook page, have danced with MJ's lead choreographer, have gained international recognition, and have enjoyed over 40 million YouTube views. Some have questioned if this is really a punishment- not that the CPDRC's million-fold international audience cares.
The changing media environment is reshaping the way the general public accesses information, acts, and reacts; policy makers can do little but respond to the publics' actions and reactions. American pop culture, in an evolved form of Public Diplomacy, is unintentionally using YouTube as an international broadcasting venue to exercise world dominance. Now, if we could only get the USG to do this intentionally...
http://blogs.uscannenberg.org/neontommy/2010/02/what-we-can-learn-from-dancing.html
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