Mannequin Challenge - Past and Present



mann-lebron-james-and-michele-obamaThe latest fun activity sweeping the nation is ‘mannequin challenge‘. It only started in mid-October 2016 by some high school and college students and has spread like wildfire, even being done in the White House.  

What it involves is that of grmann-nov-22-starsoup of people main ‘frozen’, no actual movement of eyes, legs or arms, but rather as if they were talking, joking with everyone in the room, gestures with their hands, but no physical movement, just like a mannequin. The scene is recorded with a video and posted on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or as in the case of the White House on national news reports. The White House mannequin challenge involved those celebrities waiting in a reception room, ‘talking and visiting with each other’, yet no real movement, before they were to received their Presidential Medal of Honor on November 22nd.

Many professional sports teams and players are posting their own mannequin challenge along with background music. These are being staged in various locations; sports locker room, on a plane in flight, sports arena, etc. Not just in American, but the challenge is spreading to other countries. Other participates include singers, dancers, actors, etc.

mann-1890s-tennis-groupWhat makes this new trend so fascinating, is that many of our ancestors already did this same similar thing decades ago. True, they didn’t have a video to post it on social media, but rather they had a photo taken of a family gathering, or friends, or some other social occasion and had it appear as if everyone was talking to each other or enacting, but didn’t move, as if frozen in time. mann-1900-u-of-so-calif

With this new trend of mannequin challenge, check your family photos and see how many you can local … you might be surprised. mann-1900-cidar-group

Photos: 2016-LeBron James and Michele Obama;  the Honorees in the White House Nov. 2016; 1890s – a tennis group; 1900-Univ. of So. Calif.; 1900-Cider group; and 1910-friends together.

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Related FamilyTree.com Blogs:

Make Video with Photos

Photo Types of the Late 1800s

19th Century Headless Photos

 

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