Item 4
Source:
This item is a video collected from TikTok. It was uploaded by user @phaang on September 5, 2020.
Text:
Title: “The Blue Whale Challenge”
Transcription:
“So, today we are talking about the ‘Blue Whale Challenge.’ This game lasts fifty days, and it’s played through social media platforms. The game starts with an administrator and a participant. Each day, the administrator is going to select daily tasks for the participant to do. They start off easy, like listening to certain genres of music, to watching horror movies. As the days go on, the tasks get harder, like staying up all night, to mutilating your own skin, along with carving a whale symbol into your arm. The final task involves the participant taking their own life. The administrators usually get the participants to do the tasks and take their life by making them believe that they have some sort of blackmail towards them. They usually make it more believable by stalking them on social medias and gathering information towards them. This is why it’s really important to watch out what you post online and not share too much information about yourself. So always be careful not to overshare, and if someone wants to play this game with you, don’t believe them. And just block them.”
Texture:
This item was collected from the same user that Item 3 was collected from, and much of the video’s texture is the same. Here, the photo behind her is of a whale. The user also adds creepy music to this video to play in the background while she speaks. There is text on this video, unlike the previous video collected from her. The text here is not the legend’s transcription but is a trigger warning for people about the content that is discussed, such as self harm and suicide. This shows a consideration for her audience’s potential triggers, making this video a bit more interactive than the one seen in Item 3. Further, she interacts with the audience by giving them words of advice at the conclusion of her video.
Purpose:
The “Blue Whale Challenge” is something that many young people do. As much of TikTok’s audience consists of these young people—particularly, but not limited to, high schoolers and middle schoolers—who are growing up in a “digital age” unlike anything we have seen prior to the 2010s, a warning about this challenge seems particularly necessary. Though there are no confirmed cases of suicides due to this challenge, teenage suicide is and has been a prevalent issue for decades. These tragedies are only exacerbated by social media’s particular pressures, bullying, and information that can be incredibly harmful to a young person’s mental wellbeing. Posting this legend/internet game on an app that so many young people are a part of serves as warnings not to give into peer pressure, to be careful of how much you share online, and to seek help if you are dealing with thoughts of self harm and suicide. All of these interpretations can be gathered from the legend itself, and this content creator makes it exceptionally clear that this is indeed what she wants her audience to take away from her sharing of the legend.
Relevance to Folklore and Folklore Studies:
This internet legend/game is relevant to folkloric studies because of its handling of issues that profoundly impact one folk group over all others. Issues of teenage suicide, bullying, peer pressure, and internet safety are extremely relevant when we are discussing individuals of this age group. To ignore legends such as these that discuss these topics would be to ignore the realities and fears of this group of people and would negatively impact other folkloric research on this group. Likely, this legend originated from actual teenagers, further increasing its relevance with the group. On a personal note, when doing fieldwork for another class that discussed urban legends, I gathered a version of this legend/game from someone within the folk group in question. As of 2019, this legend was still being discussed by 18 and 19-year-olds who remember the negative impacts that this alleged game had on society and the mental health of people who were their age. In 2021, it remains relevant enough to warrant a warning. The legend’s impact on real people alone should be enough to spark the interest of folklorists.