Content (2019) is a limited webseries created by Ludo Studio (who also make Bluey) and released by The ABC. It is part of the new genre of Screen Life, wherein the entire storyline plays out on the screen of the two main character's smartphones through their texts, FaceTime calls and social media accounts. In short, it's about Lucy and Daisy, two best friends who are very different. Lucy is a broke 23-year-old chasing internet fame (through any means necessary) while Daisy is her studious roommate who wants to be a graphic designer. The show aims to explore friendship in the age of phone-obsession and internet narcissism.
As the show is 'filmed' entirely from the point of view of smart phones, it shares some tropes with the Found Footage genre. A thirty-second clip from the first episode, Flipgirl, went viral online
thanks to people thinking it was genuine.
Content can be watched on YouTube or ABC iView. The creators recommend the show be watched on a phone or tablet for the best effect.
Examples:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Lucy has thirty seconds of accidental internet fame and becomes obsessed with a) herself and b) keeping it going.
- Drives Like Crazy: Lucy's first taste of internet fame comes when she accidentally crashes her car while livestreaming on Facebook.
- False Friend: By the end of the series, Lucy has deliberately lost Daisy her promotion, got herself and Daisy lost in the forest where Daisy is stung by a bee only to find Lucy left her epipen behind deliberately and missed Daisy's graduation for an influencer party.
- In with the In Crowd: Lucy wants to achieve this and does so by the end of the series.
- Instant Humiliation: Just Add YouTube!: Lucy crashes her car while livestreaming on Facebook, and many people call her out on that.
- Instant Web Hit: Lucy, briefly as Flip-Girl, then later on as Lucy-Goosey after her beauty-guru freakout video (uploaded at the advice of Daisy).
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: The persona Lucy puts on, matching her dyed-pink hair and pink phone.
- Social Media Before Reason: The police try to help Lucy after she flips her car. She's more interested in talking to her viewers even while she's hanging upside down in a car wreck.
- Social Media Is Bad: The series comes down on both sides of this - Daisy uses Facebook and Insta and is happy with them, Tinder and Bumble and ends up with a sweet boyfriend named Mark, but Lucy's obsession with her internet persona and fame puts a strain on many of her friendships.
- YouTuber Apology Parody: In the final episode, appropriately titled "Apology", Lucy makes a video apologizing for replacing a dying plant in her background, which drew the ire of "the plant community". This teary-eyed apology turns into her talking about a "daisy" she had also neglected. Of course, her cheery outro reminding viewers to subscribe kills the mood a little bit.
